BIN LADEN WILL BE TAKEN DEAD OR ALIVE, BUSH VOWS

WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Friday said again he would take Osama bin
Laden dead or alive and questioned how anyone who watched a videotape of
the al-Qaida leader bragging about the Sept. 11 attacks could doubt his
guilt or the United States' determination to capture or kill him.

In his first comments on the videotape since its release Thursday, Bush
also said he had been conflicted about whether to allow public airing of
the tape.

While the tape provided what Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer called "proof
perfect" of bin Laden's guilt, the president said he was concerned about
its impact on the families of attack victims.

"I had mixed emotions about this tape, because there's a lot of people who
suffered as a result of his evil," Bush said. "I was hesitant to allow
there to be a vivid reminder of their loss and tragedy displayed on our
TVs. On the other hand, I knew that the tape would be a devastating
declaration of guilt for this evil person."

Many Americans reacted with anger to the video of bin Laden smiling and
laughing about the attacks that left more than 3,000 people dead. But there
was little evidence the tape had done much to swing opinion in the Arab
world. Arab leaders who support Bush's war on terrorism said the video
proved conclusively that bin Laden was guilty. Those who have opposed
Bush's hunt for bin Laden in Afghanistan dismissed the tape as a fraud.

Bush bristled at such suggestions.

"It is preposterous for anybody to think that this tape is doctored," Bush
said. "That's just a feeble excuse to provide weak support for an
incredibly evil man.

"Those who contend it's a farce or a fake are hoping for the best about an
evil man," he said. "I mean, this is bin Laden unedited."

The videotape, believed to have been made in November, shows bin Laden
bragging to a Saudi sheik about how the death toll on Sept. 11 exceeded his
own expectations, and how he believed the attacks would help rally Muslims
against the United States.

The tape was released as U.S. and anti-Taliban troops were reported to have
cornered bin Laden in eastern Afghanistan. While some administration
officials were hopeful that the end was near for bin Laden, Bush cautioned
Friday that it still could take time to apprehend or kill the terrorist leader.

"I don't know whether we're going to get him tomorrow, or a month from now,
or a year from now," Bush said. "I really don't know. But we're going to
get him."

The president said it didn't matter to him if bin Laden were captured or
killed.

"I don't care. Dead or alive, either way. It doesn't matter to me," Bush said.

The president derided bin Laden as "somebody who encourages young people to
go kill themselves, and he himself refuses to stand and fight."

Bush also linked the war on terrorism to America's war on drugs. Speaking
Friday to the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America in Washington, the
president said that beyond the damage illegal drug use does at home -- from
robbing individuals of their lives to converting playgrounds into crime
scenes -- those who do drugs may be aiding the cause of terrorists.

Heroin produced in Afghanistan and shipped to America and Great Britain has
been cited as a source of revenue for the Taliban regime that harbored bin
Laden.

"Terrorists use drug profits to fund their cells, to commit acts of
murder," said Bush. "If you quit drugs, you join the fight against terror
in America."