PAKISTAN: The United States has no way of knowing whether Osama bin Laden has died of kidney problems but President Bush would not view that as "an unwelcome event", the White House said yesterday.
Asked about Pakistani President Gen Pervez Musharraf's view that the Saudi-born fugitive and alleged mastermind of the September 11th attacks may have died because "he was not getting his dialysis machine in the caves", White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer replied: "We just don't know."
"I don't think the president would view that as an unwelcome event, but the fact of the matter is, we do not know," he said. Gen Musharraf outlined several possible scenarios for the disappearance of bin Laden in an interview with the Lebanese-based Middle East Broadcasting Centre that was reproduced in a local newspaper.
"The first, he may have been killed because of the heavy bombing or he has died of a kidney problem as he was not getting his dialysis machine in the caves," Gen Musharraf was quoted as saying. In his latest video broadcast last month, bin Laden appeared frail and pale and barely moved his left side. He is known to have been receiving treatment from a portable dialysis machine.
The US military has pounded the mountain cave complexes in Afghanistan said to have housed bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, but the trail leading to the world's most wanted man has gone cold.
Bush has said he wants bin Laden "dead or alive, either way" and the United States has put a $25 million bounty on his head.