Bin Laden Proves the Hardier Prey

It was easier to capture Saddam Hussein alive than it would be to catch the Bush administration’s No. 1 fugitive, Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said Sunday.

Both Hussein and Bin Laden spent huge sums of money preparing to elude an American-led dragnet. But Bin Laden, who has hidden from U.S. forces for more than two years, has advantages that Hussein didn’t enjoy, according to U.S. officials and counter-terrorism experts.

The Al Qaeda leader has an apparent hide-out deep within the recesses of a vast and lawless mountain range, and a network of supporters that is shadowy -- and more loyal -- than the one that supported Hussein, they said.

U.S. officials say that cash they have been spreading around Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan for information about both men was more attractive to Iraqis than it is to tribal chieftains in the frontier provinces where Bin Laden is believed to be hiding. Hussein’s supporters, the U.S. intelligence community has suggested, believed in recent weeks that they were part of a dead regime. Bin Laden’s stature, however, continues to rise among a growing base of supporters who appear willing to fight to the death to defend him, several U.S. officials said.

“In the frontier area, we seem to have no traction, and our money doesn’t work,” said a U.S. counter-terrorism official familiar with the hunt for the Al Qaeda leader.

“Saddam supporters probably thought they were part of a dead enterprise. Bin Laden’s don’t think they are part of a dead enterprise.”

The U.S.-led pursuit of Bin Laden, arguably the largest dragnet ever for one man, is different from the hunt for Hussein, the officials said.

Iraq has for several months been under the control of the U.S. military, allowing U.S. authorities to work in secret and launch intelligence-gathering missions and attempts at capture.

Also, the deposed Iraqi leader was long believed to be hiding in Tikrit, his birthplace, an accessible, flat area where it is relatively easy for U.S. troops to move around.

But Bin Laden and top aide Ayman Zawahiri are believed to be hiding high in the mountains that form the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, probably in caves and tunnels. The region’s topography, high altitude and rocky landscape make it almost impossible for U.S. forces to maneuver, even if they had the cooperation of tribal elders who traditionally have been loyal to Bin Laden, the officials said.

The area is so vast that even the most advanced satellite reconnaissance technology is of little help, the U.S. officials added.

Moreover, both Pakistan and Afghanistan are sovereign governments, and that requires U.S. officials to work jointly with them. U.S. officials have been reluctant to share intelligence with Pakistan for fear it could fall into the hands of Al Qaeda sympathizers within the Islamabad government and compromise the entire effort, they said.

Hussein’s unkempt, haggard appearance was just one indication of his constant, desperate scramble to elude his pursuers.

“Look at him; he looks like a homeless person,” said a U.S. intelligence official. “Every couple hours he was switching places, moving in the middle of the night. He knows someone wants the $25 million [reward] so he hasn’t stopped running.”

Bin Laden is believed to be so secure in the loyalty of his lieutenants that he has continued to help run the Al Qaeda organization from his remote location, and has even issued statements reiterating his calls for all Muslims to join in the fight against U.S. forces in Iraq. In the most recent videotape available, Bin Laden looked rested and relaxed as he and Zawahiri walked peacefully down a mountain path.

U.S. officials also said they had been watching Hussein’s concentric circles of relatives, senior aides and Iraqi officials in the months before the war so that they could eventually trace some of them to Hussein. In Bin Laden’s case, however, his supporters have proven far more elusive.