ABC: U.S. Search for Bin Laden Narrows
[link|http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/STRIKE_MAIN.html|Here]
Excerpt:
Nov. 2 \ufffd The hunt for Osama bin Laden has narrowed to a few complexes of caves and tunnels, intelligence officials tell ABCNEWS, as U.S. bombs continue to pound Taliban troop positions in Afghanistan.
The United States has the suspected mountain hideouts of the alleged terror mastermind under 24-hour surveillance from the air and ground, sources say. Now, the debate is whether to go after bin Laden and other leaders of his al Qaeda terror network by using 5,000-pound "bunker buster" bombs, or to take the greater risk of sending in commandos.
The benefit of sending in special operations forces after bin Laden is the certainty of knowing his fate, experts say.
"I think there's a huge upside for the American and allied effort to actually capturing or very definitively confirming the killing of some of the al Qaeda leaders to include bin Laden," said John Hillen, who was in the U.S. special forces for six years.
Defense sources say that plans for raids against bin Laden's strongholds are constantly being revised and rehearsed. Military planners are waiting for the right information and conditions, and a decision by President Bush to make their move, they say.
