Bin Laden probably alive, White House says

Bin Laden's whereabouts remain unknown three months into the U.S. anti-terror campaign.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Osama bin Laden is likely alive and will be caught, top Bush administration officials said Sunday, but his capture isn't necessary to disrupt global terrorism, they stressed.

"I think we can probably prevent future attacks against the United States even if we don't get bin Laden," Vice President Dick Cheney said on ABC's "This Week." "I want bin Laden because of what he did on 9/11."

Bin Laden, the No. 1 suspected terrorist behind the attacks on New York and Washington, has been the subject of a massive manhunt since September 11. His whereabouts remain a mystery.

Some Bush administration officials, including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, have begun saying recently that the war on terrorism can be successful without catching bin Laden.

Cheney: "Bin Laden himself isn't that big a threat."

"Bin Laden by himself isn't that big a threat," Cheney said. "Bin Laden connected to this worldwide organization of terror is a threat. We're going to go after him, but we're also after the network."

Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said this month that he believes bin Laden is dead as a result of kidney disease.

But Cheney said he was skeptical.

"If he were dead, there'd be more indications of it than we've seen. ...There'd be more noise in the system about his demise and about the future of the organization if, in fact, he were no longer there," Cheney said on "Fox News Sunday."

White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card offered similar comments.

Card: "Our overall objective is to defeat terrorism...not to get Osama bin Laden."

"We know he's on the run," Card said on CNN's "Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer." "I do not know for a fact that he's alive. I happen to believe he's probably alive."

Card also appeared to downplay the significance of capturing bin Laden, even though he vowed the United States would "get this evildoer."

"But understand that that's not the overall objective," Card said. "Our overall objective is to defeat terrorism, wherever it is around the world. And so, our objective is not to get Osama bin Laden."