Just a few weeks ago, America's finest Intel agents and analysts believed they might be on the verge of a big breakthrough in the manhunt for the world's most-wanted terrorist. The net was closing on a Qaeda operative in Pakistan who, it was hoped, could lead them to Osama bin Laden. "It looked like we were really close, maybe one or two people away," one U.S. official told NEWSWEEK. "There was a lot of optimism around here." At the same time, in the lawless tribal territories close to the Afghan border, 30,000 Pakistani troops were tracking down any trace of Al Qaeda. Backed by jets and helicopter gunships, the Pakistanis had killed 246 of the enemy and lost 171 of their own. But after eight months of military operations, bin Laden was nowhere to be found.
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