Programs set to dissect bin Laden's life, effects

Agents assigned to hunt him speak about his influence.
By ROGER CATLIN
THE HARTFORD COURANT
PASADENA, Calif. -- Where is Osama bin Laden?
As the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11 approaches, the notorious and elusive leader of al-Qaida -- responsible for the worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil -- can be found not in custody, but on television.
Two major documentaries next month on bin Laden start what's expected to be a tidal wave of Sept. 11-related programming -- the most, certainly, since the one-year anniversary -- from in-depth documentaries to network miniseries.
The focus on bin Laden, though, will return attention to the leader who has survived an international manhunt.
"Osama's Escape," an Aug. 29 episode of the series "Final Report" on the National Geographic Channel, examines how the world's most wanted figure could have eluded the world's most powerful military for so long.
On Aug. 23, people who knew bin Laden through the years are interviewed for CNN's "In the Footsteps of bin Laden," reported by Christiane Amanpour.
"We went to four continents, 10 different nations," Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer of CNN productions, told TV writers at the TV Summer Press Tour 2006 last week.
"We spoke to childhood friends. We spoke to his teacher, an English teacher. We spoke to relatives, Saudi royalty. We spoke to fighters who were with him in Afghanistan. We spoke to Saudi royalty, U.S. government officials and CIA. All of them helped paint a portrait of who Osama bin Laden is and how he evolved from a child to where he is today."
Still at work
And wherever he is today, Nelson said, he continues to exert extraordinary power.
"He is like a multiheaded hydra," he said. "He has spawned a thousand others just like him. If he were dead tomorrow, I believe that his influence and what he has created, al-Qaida, will continue on. I think that it would be wrong to think that he has been diminished."
Amanpour also said bin Laden's influence remains enormous.
"The fact that he has eluded capture does not mean that he has left the scene," she said. "It's incredible to me that he still manages to put out fairly sophisticated video and audiotapes, that his presence is still there."