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Bush: bin Laden search will succeed
( 2001-12-29 10:09 ) (7 )

US President Bush said on Friday the US military will not quit Afghanistan or the search for the elusive Osama bin Laden until the No. 1 terror suspect is killed or broFught to American justice.

``The world must know that this administration will not blink in the face of danger and will not tire,'' Bush said, bracing Americans for a long struggle.

Bush spoke as the war effort was focused on the manhunt for bin Laden, and when contradictory reports swirled about the al-Qaida leader's whereabouts - and even his possible death.

At a news conference at his central Texas ranch, the president did not rule out the possibility that bin Laden had fled Afghanistan. He seemed untroubled by reports on Friday that bin Laden had entered Pakistan.

``You don't need to worry about whether or not we're going to get him, because we are, and it's just a matter of time,'' he said. ``Dead or alive is fine with me.''

The White House billed Bush's outdoor appearance as a war update, and it came at the end of a week in which bin Laden dominated the airwaves with a newly released videotape.

The president said key objectives of the war had already been met. Bin Laden, he said, is no longer ``the parasite that had invaded the host, the Taliban'' - the former rulers of Afghanistan toppled by US airstrikes and battles with Afghan rebels. Thousands of enemy troops are being held for questioning and possible trial, he said, though top al-Qaida leaders, bin Laden and Taliban leader Mohammed Omar remain at large.

``He is not escaping us,'' Bush said of bin Laden. ``I mean, this is a guy who, three months ago, was in control of a country. Now he's maybe in control of a cave. ... We're going to get him running and keep him running, and bring him to justice.''

Bush and Army Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the war, outlined goals that could prolong the stay for the at least 3,000 US troops in Afghanistan: Ensuring political stability and security; destroying the al-Qaida terrorist network; interrogating, fingerprinting and photographing as many as 6,000 prisoners; moving some into the legal process.

``There is a lot to do, and the American people just must understand, when I said that we need to be patient, that I meant it,'' Bush said.

Bush has long been wary of open-ended US military deployments overseas, but he refused to offer a timetable Friday for bringing troops home from Afghanistan.

``I imagine us being there for quite a long period of time,'' Bush said.

The mission will be accomplished, Bush said, when Franks says it is.

``It will take as long as it takes,'' Franks said, and ``we will not be hurried.''

The administration has issued three domestic terror alerts since the Sept. 11 attacks, and Bush said he believed members of al-Qaida will seek to again harm America and its allies.

Yet he said he was heartened by the thwarting of an alleged attempt to blow up a plane last week by a man with explosives in his shoes. A flight attendant and passengers stopped the man before he could ignite the bomb - an example, Bush said, of the kind of vigilance among ordinary people that he has called for.

The president gave no indication that he has decided how to handle the case of American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, who is being held aboard a US warship. He promised ``proper justice'' for him.

``Walker made a terrible decision,'' Bush said. ``He's working with the enemy, and we'll see how the courts deal with that.''

He sidestepped a question about whether military trials for foreign terrorism suspects should require unanimous verdicts for the death penalty, as a draft administration memo suggests.

``The prisoners that we capture will be given a heck of a lot better chance in court than those citizens of ours who were in the World Trade Center or in the Pentagon were given by Mr. bin Laden,'' he said.

Bush, who summoned a small group of reporters for questions, drove himself across the ranch in a pickup, and, dressed in cowboy boots, blue jeans and a brown jacket, addressed a wide range of subjects as his dog Spot sniffed about.

On other topics, Bush said:

-Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke to both India and Pakistan on Friday urging restraint in their escalating dispute. He praised Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for arresting dozens of suspected terrorists.

-He was ``fully engaged'' in Argentina's financial crisis, conferring with regional leaders, and was willing to offer assistance through the International Monetary Fund.

-He was considering recess appointment, expressing frustration over the Senate's failure to vote on the nomination of Eugene Scalia, son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, to be the Labor Department's top lawyer.

-He would be ``madder than heck'' if an inquiry determined that an Arab-American member of his Secret Service detail had been barred from an American Airlines flight Tuesday because of his ethnicity.

-He felt empathy for employees of Enron, the collapsed energy firm that barred workers from selling company stock as it plunged into bankruptcy. That was ``very troubling'' and merited government investigation. He said he had not spoken to Enron chairman and chief executive Kenneth Lay, a friend who helped make Enron Bush's biggest financial supporter.