Bush adviser says bin Laden `virtually impotent'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Seemingly taunting Osama bin Laden, President George W. Bush's homeland security adviser said Sunday the fugitive al-Qaida leader is "virtually impotent" beyond his ability to hide away and spread anti-American propaganda. The provocative characterization came just days after bin Laden attracted international attention with the release of a video in which he ridicules President George W. Bush about the Iraq war and reminds the world that he has not been captured. Ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes, White House aide Frances Fragos Townsend made a clear attempt to diminish the influence - or the perception - of the man who masterminded those attacks. "This is about the best he can do," Townsend said of bin Laden. "This is a man on a run, from a cave, who's virtually impotent other than these tapes."