Osama Bin Laden and Al-Queda: The War on Terrorism Continues

With the capture and death of Saddam Hussein, it seems that everyone, including the media, has forgotten about the real Mc Coy, the man who was supposedly the instigator behind the terrors of the September 11 collapse of New York's World Trade Centres.

It has been more than five years since; American forces have driven the Taliban and Al-Qaeda out of power, but why then, is Osama still not apprehended?

Lack of Information

Chief amongst the problems lies with America's difficulty in getting real-time, precise locations of Osama's status.

Much of what is known about Osama is derived from the tapes of him made by his fellow Al-Qaeda members. Most of these tapes come in the form of video or recorded messages, and do not review the exact location of Osama.

Most predictions, however, do agree that Osama bin laden may very well be hidden in the mountainous regions between the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

According to Gary Berntsen, a former decorated CIA officer, in his 2005 book, Jawbreaker, a number of al-Qaeda detainees later confirmed that bin Laden had escaped Tora Bora into Pakistan via an eastern route through snow covered mountains in the area of Parachinar, Pakistan.

Osama's Supposed Ill-health, and Death

The chronic lack of intelligence has spewed forth a whole host of rumors about Osama, and these reports are likely to be exaggerated.

Rumors began to surface, as early as 2002, that Osama bin Laden suffered from kidney failure, an idea purported by President Perez of Pakistan.
If he does suffer from kidney ailments, the disease would have hampered his day-to-day movements, since he is likely to be constantly on the move to evade capture.

That Osama bin laden may be hiding in caves makes this claim all the more incredulous: How is Osama going to drag a dialysis machine in a maze of caves?

Alleged news of Osama's death was first heard by the Saudi intelligence services on Sep4, 2006, and was subsequently reported by the French newspaper L'Est R�publicain.

Will Osama's Death Spell The End of al-Qaeda?

Given the speculations about Osama, the crux of the question is: Would Osama's death deal a death blow to the al-Qaeda?
With his death, the terrorist world might be forced into electing another new leader to continue his work and would put many anti-terrorist countries into high alert.

It would be humanly impossible to cover all areas if there is any planned serial attack. However, with the constant education on terrorism prevention to the public in trains, crowded shopping, mock up exercise and mobilization of public transports, they would be in better position on knowing the steps to react in times of any attack and would definitely reduce the number of panic people.

Given the fluid and decentralized nature of al-Qaeda network, it is unlikely that killing Osama will have any effect on the functioning of the group except a sense of justice done to the victims and families members of the 9-11 incident.