Bush successor likely to inherit Osama Bin Laden hunt

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W Bush has not quite five months to make good on his seven-year-old vow to get Osama bin Laden “dead or alive” before his successor inherits the hunt for the terrorist mastermind.

But the vastly unpopular president rejects suggestions that he’s making any special effort to nab Osama ahead of the November 4 US elections that will decide who succeeds him at the White House.

“I read some of the headlines that said, ‘Bush orders special hunt for Osama Bin Laden’ - a little bit of press hyperventilating: after all, that’s what we’ve been doing since September 11,” 2001, he told Sky television in June.

In January, however, he seemed to accept the idea that it might not happen on his watch, telling Fox News: “He’ll be gotten by a president.” If he feels regrets about not capturing Osama, it hasn’t stopped Bush from mentioning the Al-Qaeda leader in an applause line attacking his Democratic foes’ commitment to the so-called global war on terrorism.