Word: bin
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...might expect from a man who has spent the past four years on the run. If it didn't belong to one of the world's most feared men, it would hardly scare a child. Having disappeared from view, sheltering in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Osama bin Laden may have lost the ability to send a chill down the world's spine. Governments don't shut down airports or send security forces into red alert. Even when he makes the direst threats, we no longer feel compelled to slow down, much less stop, the course of our daily...
...bin Laden's re-emergence last Thursday was still a jolt, coming after a 13-month silence that raised questions about whether the al-Qaeda boss was incapacitated or even dead. The U.S. believes the 10-minute taped message, which aired on the Arab TV channel al-Jazeera, was probably recorded sometime since November, partly because of a reference to British newspaper reports from that time about a purported proposal by President Bush to bomb al-Jazeera. The tape suggested that bin Laden is alive, if not quite well. A longtime bin Laden watcher, French terrorism expert Roland Jacquard, speculates...
That claim, of course, is undermined every day that bin Laden and his deputy and chief tactician, Ayman al-Zawahiri, remain on the loose. But bin Laden's resurfacing has come at a time when the leadership of al-Qaeda appears to be under as much strain as at any time since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Antiterrorism experts say the Saudi-born terrorist is no longer in active contact with field commanders, and his ability to plan and direct specific operations is hampered by his isolation. In Iraq, scene of al-Qaeda's deadliest strikes since 9/11...
...might be, but no one is confusing misdirection for surrender. While improved cooperation between the U.S. and Pakistan has apparently helped the U.S. zero in on bin Laden's lieutenants, credible intelligence on the main target's whereabouts is sketchy at best. Law-enforcement officials say that bin Laden's message aside, there are no signs of heightened al-Qaeda activity in the U.S., but they don't discount the possibility of a terrorist attack. "The threat's still real," says a U.S. intelligence official, "but because of this tape, does that make it any more real than...
Some terrorism experts believe that the perception that bin Laden is vulnerable may make jihadists more determined to carry out attacks. "I'd be worried over the next 60 to 90 days," says a former FBI counterterrorism official. "I believe if we don't hear from al-Qaeda in the near term, some will paint bin Laden as weakened and unable to deliver on his threat"--a possibility that may motivate terrorists to try to strike soon, to make good on the promises of their leader...