German intel chief says Osama bin Laden remains key figure

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Osama bin Laden is no longer personally planning attacks, but remains significant as a "Che Guevara of al-Qaida" who helps hold together the terror network, Germany's intelligence chief said in an interview published Monday. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan border - a suspicion that Ernst Uhrlau, the head of the Federal Intelligence Service, underlined in an interview with the Bild daily. "As a creative director and icon, he is still something like the Che Guevara of al-Qaida," Uhrlau was quoted as saying - a reference to the Cuban revolutionary who became a popular symbol of rebellion worldwide. "Bin Laden is certainly no longer personally planning any attacks," he added, according to the report. But "for the internal cohesion of the terror network, it is enough for very different groups to be able to invoke him."