Reuters AlertNet - Bin laden fate unclear, but Karzai says Omar alive

Mullah Omar is apparently wandering around Afghanistan stirring up trouble. He's either trying to revive the Taliban or auditioning for a reality series. As for Osama...

Bin Laden threatens more attacks: Al-Jazeera

Well, you can believe al-Jazeera if you want. As it is, I think he's dead. If he wasn't, he'd want to broadcast it, and with more than a handful of tapes that could have been recorded any time... Or maybe he's alive, but maimed or crippled somehow? I suppose that might keep him off TV. Which would explain...

Satellite picks up bin Laden

According to "American intelligence sources", which aren't really any more reliable than al-Jazeera when it comes down to it. Supposedly they have a recording of him talking to Omar.

Summing up... Maybe he's alive, maybe he's dead. But I'm betting that all this coming up now is related to the Iraq war. President Bush can't be criticized for moving on from Osama to Saddam if Osama is dead. But if he's alive, he has to be dealt with. We could easily keep hunting Osama while fighting in Iraq, but a lot of people might not see it that way.