Checking Osama bin Laden’s pulse

Osama bin Laden has been uncharacteristically silent for nearly a year. He has issued no videotape since October 2004, or audiotape since Dec. 28, 2004, while second-in-command Ayman Zawahiri has issued seven such tapes. Is Bin Laden dead? Current asked five experts.

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No

“If he had died, it could not be hidden from the grid of Muslim extremist groups in Pakistan.”

-- Ahmed Rashid, author of “Taliban” and “Jihad”

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Perhaps

“In one of the very last videos, [he] looked very gaunt. His language was premonitory.... It sounded like he was facing death.... It may be that the succession [to Zawahiri] is going on as we speak.”

-- Jerrold Post, director, political psychology program, George Washington University, and author of “The Mind of the Terrorist”

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No

“Bin Laden’s foremost concern has been his safety and survival.... He will likely reappear ... when it suits him, and there is a sufficiently grand or compelling reason to do so.”

-- Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at the Rand Corp. in Washington

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No

“The most recent videotape, which aired on Oct. 29, 2004, showed an alert, rested Bin Laden in well-pressed robes, looking more relaxed than he has looked in years.... Why no videotape since? He is disciplined and secretive to the point of paranoia, and he makes his statements at a time of his choosing.”

-- Peter Bergen, author of “The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al Qaeda’s Leader”

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No

“Had he been killed, Al Qaeda would have announced his death, mourning his loss but celebrating the fact that he had finally attained his most important goal -- martyrdom. Bin Laden has been quiet ... because he intends not to speak to Americans again until after the next Al Qaeda attack inside the United States ... [which will be] bigger than 9/11.”

Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA’s Bin Laden unit and the author, as “Anonymous,” of “Imperial Hubris”

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--SWATI PANDEY