Sept. 12, 2006 – In a nationally televised speech today, President George W. Bush issued his most direct threat ever to Osama bin Laden, vowing to use the search engine Google to find the Al Qaeda terror leader.
"Osama bin Laden, you can run, but you can’t hide," Bush said, with his trademark steely resolve. "Google will find you."
The president concluded his speech by warning the world’s most wanted man, "I’m Googling you right now. And I’m feeling lucky."
News reports that the CIA had recently disbanded a special unit dedicated to finding bin Laden suggested that the White House no longer saw his capture as a top priority. But Bush’s decision to use what he called "the most powerful search engine on the Internets" has sent a different message.
But even as the president announced plans to enlist Google in the search for bin Laden, he attempted to manage the expectations of the American people, warning, "The Googling of Osama bin Laden will be a long and arduous Googling."
Bush also acknowledged that he tried to use the auction site eBay last month to ensnare bin Laden, when news surfaced that the terror mastermind was a fan of the singer Whitney Houston.
The White House auctioned an autographed photo of Houston on the site, but the plan failed when the winning bid was made by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il.
Elsewhere, Vice President Dick Cheney said that major progress had been made in the war on terror, particularly in the area of television photo ops.
