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CNN Live Saturday

Will bin Laden's Myth Grow?

Aired July 13, 2002 - 12:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Intelligence reports out of Germany today say Osama bin Laden is alive and well around the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. But what if we never find bin Laden? CNN's Garrick Utley explores that question.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARRICK UTLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was the icon of revolution in his time. When Che Guevara disappeared into the jungles of South America in the 1960s to lead Marxist rebellions, his very invisibility enlarged the cult of Che -- from branded beer to key rings, the Che Guevara myth grew.

Could the same thing happen with Osama bin Laden, as his disappearance adds to his mystery and mythical attraction for some?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think the bin Laden phenomenon is an individual phenomenon. It is a phenomenon about people looking for symbols.

UTLEY (on camera): But hasn't it always been like that, people looking for human symbols in whom they can invest their hopes, their resentments, their anger against others?

Osama bin Laden isn't the first.

(voice-over): When Adolf Hitler killed himself in his bunker in Berlin and his body was burned, his death, later confirmed by his skull, was generally accepted even by his most fanatical followers. But myths grew around other Nazi officials who escaped capture. Was Martin Borman, Hitler's close aide, dead or alive? And where was Josef Mengele, who committed medical crimes at Auschwitz and escaped to South America where he died in 1979?

Osama bin Laden is not yet a myth. He is simply a missing person. A dangerous one to many in his own world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is terrifying to Middle Eastern elites. He is terrifying to Middle Eastern governments. He is terrifying to those who aspire to have a normal life. Because if it could be done to the U.S., it could be done to them.

UTLEY: It was a similar fear that spurred the hunt for Che Guevara, who had fought in the Cuban revolution. In 1967, the romantic revolutionary aura of Che took a bullet in a jungle in Bolivia.

(on camera): Still, despite all the evidence, myths can live on as long as people want to believe in them. That's the power of myths. Just ask those who believe in the survival of someone named Elvis.

(voice-over): But the search for Osama bin Laden brings us back to earth and a more serious question. Even out of sight, how strong will bin Laden's hold be on the imagination and support of those who look to him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those people who are going to rally behind him are going to rally behind him dead or alive. You're going to have a core who's no matter what happens to him, are going to be his core supporters.

UTLEY: How many they will be we can only guess. But when you see this face on t-shirts, you know something is happening.

Garrick Utley, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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