Post by Moses on Mar 4, 2005 10:37:35 GMT -5
Bush Makes Rare Bin Laden Pledge[/size]
Source:BBC News
US President George W Bush has made a rare mention of Osama Bin Laden, vowing to hunt down the al-Qaeda leader.
Speaking at the swearing-in of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Mr Bush said the US was "working day and night" to bring Bin Laden to justice.
Bin Laden had asked his Iraqi ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to plan attacks outside Iraq, the US president said.
Correspondents say Mr Bush has barely used Bin Laden's name since the aftermath of the 11 September attacks.
Mr Bush said preventing a new attack on the US was "the greatest challenge of our day".
"We're on a constant hunt for Bin Laden," he said. "We're keeping the pressure on him, keeping him in hiding.
"And today, Zarqawi understands that coalition and Iraqi forces are on a constant hunt for him, as well."
US intelligence officials were busy gathering information on the two men, as well as al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mr Bush said.
"We're not resting on our laurels," he told staff at CIA headquarters in a later speech. "We've had great successes and that doesn't mean we should stop."
Bin Laden is widely believed to have been hiding in the mountains along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border since US-backed forces toppled Afghanistan's Taleban regime in late 2001.
He has constantly eluded US efforts to track him down and occasionally appears in videos or on audiotapes to show followers he is still alive.
Source: BBC News, 4 March 2005
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