Stopping bin Laden is ‘greatest challenge’

President Bush yesterday said stopping Osama bin Laden from committing a new attack on U.S. soil is “the greatest challenge of our day,” but vowed that the United States eventually will bring to justice the mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

In a rare mention of bin Laden, who has eluded U.S. authorities for years, the president noted that the al Qaeda terrorist recently came out of hiding to urge his chief ally in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi, to attack Americans.

“Bin Laden’s message is a telling reminder that al Qaeda still hopes to attack us on our own soil,” Mr. Bush said during the swearing-in ceremony for Michael Chertoff, who took over the Department of Homeland Security last month.

“Stopping them is the greatest challenge of our day. … We’re on a constant hunt for bin Laden. We’re keeping the pressure on him, keeping him in hiding. And today, Zarqawi understands that coalition and Iraqi troops are on a constant hunt for him as well,” Mr. Bush said.

Later in the day, after a trip to CIA headquarters in Langley to meet with agency Director Porter J. Goss, the president pledged to stay on the hunt.

“We … spend every day gathering information to locate Osama bin Laden” and others, he said. “We’re not resting on our laurels. We’ve had great successes. But that doesn’t mean that we should stop.”

Mr. Bush said al Qaeda is now operating with few senior operatives, many of whom have been captured or killed by U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“If al Qaeda was structured like corporate America, you’d have a chairman of the board still in office, but many of the key operators would no longer be around — in other words, the executive vice presidents, the operating officers, the people responsible for certain aspects of the organization have been brought to justice,” he said.

But Mr. Bush also said the search for bin Laden will continue until he is found.

“There’s more work to be done. And it’s a matter of time. As far as I’m concerned and as far as the CIA is concerned, it’s a matter of time before we bring these people to justice,” the president said.

During the administration of the oath of office for Mr. Chertoff, held at the Ronald Reagan Building, Mr. Bush lauded the new homeland security secretary.

“Under Mike’s leadership, we will do everything in our power to meet that challenge. Mike is wise, and he is tough — in a good way,” he said to laughter.

“He knows the nature of the enemy. As head of the criminal division at the Department of Justice, Mike helped trace the September 11th attacks to the al Qaeda network. And it didn’t take him very long to do so.”

After the September 11, 2001, attacks killed nearly 3,000 Americans, Mr. Bush vowed to get bin Laden “dead or alive.” But bin Laden has eluded U.S. efforts, surfacing occasionally on audio or video tape to taunt Mr. Bush and spur terrorists to commit more attacks.

U.S. intelligence thinks bin Laden is hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan and has confirmed that he has been in contact with Zarqawi. In an audiotape message purportedly made by bin Laden, Zarqawi was formally named as the head of al Qaeda in Iraq.

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