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CNN Live Today

Hunt for Osama

Aired September 03, 2002 - 10:35   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Barbara Starr reporting today that special operation forces in Afghanistan want to break off the hunt for Osama bin Laden. According to "The New York Times," commanders believe the head of the Al Qaeda terrorist group was killed in a bombing raid at Tora Bora last December, but they lack forensic evidence to prove that theory. Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is in the Big Apple this week, and yet she's still on her beat and joins us with what she has learned on the story.
Barbara, good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Well, despite what special operations troops reportedly have told "The New York Times," senior Pentagon officials tell CNN there is no change in their assessment of Osama bin Laden or change in their operation to go hunt for him. Officials say bin Laden's status simply remains unchanged, and the status is this. They do not know if he is dead or alive. But until they see evidence, until the U.S. military sees evidence to the contrary, their working assumption is that he is alive and they will keep looking for him.

Some officials, in fact, do believe that it is possible bin Laden died last winter in the bombing of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan, but no body was ever found. There are also those who point to the fact there have been no tape recordings of him, no videos of him at all this year, and they believe that may be another indication that he is dead.

But on the other side of the coin, very senior officials, including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, say, wait a minute, that may not be true, perhaps bin Laden is too ill or injured to appear in the video, perhaps he's too afraid of being caught or perhaps he is just biding his time.

So at the end of the day, it appears status remains the same. Bin Laden is either dead or alive, in Afghanistan, or somewhere else -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara, let me ask you this, just giving the report a little bit of credence, if in fact you did take those special operation forces off of that hunt, where could they be better utilized in some people's eyes?

STARR: Well, you make an excellent point. Of course there are some special forces units, some very elite troops that have been looking for bin Laden in eastern Afghanistan, and they may well believe that, you know, they have done all they can. Underlying all of this, however, is the fact that there simply aren't enough special forces in the U.S. military to do everything they may be called to do in the months ahead.

And perhaps underlying some of the issues are special forces that think they -- or believe, it is time they get ready for Iraq if that task is put upon them, or they want to go look in other countries, we are told, for Al Qaeda wherever they may be hiding.

KAGAN: Barbara Starr, you can take the gal out of the Pentagon, but you can't take the Pentagon out of the gal. Thank so you much.

STARR: Thank you, Daryn.

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