WASHINGTON, Dec 14: President George W. Bush said on Friday it did not matter to him whether Osama bin Laden was brought in “dead or alive,” and vowed, “We’ll get him.”

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Bush also rejected critics in the Islamic world of a videotape of the Saudi dissident released by the United States, saying it was “preposterous for anybody to think this tape was doctored.”

As US forces were said to be closing in on Osama in eastern Afghanistan, Bush said it did not matter to him whether Osama was brought in dead or alive.

“I don’t care. Dead or alive, either way. It doesn’t matter to me,” Bush said.

“I don’t know whether we’re going to get him tomorrow, or a month from now, or a year from now. I really don’t know. But we’re going to get him ... He may hide for a while, but we’ll get him,” Bush said.

Bush spoke during a picture-taking session with visiting Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

On Thursday, the Pentagon released a nearly hour-long videotape captured in a house in Jalalabad that showed Osama discussing the Sept. 11 attacks, boasting about his involvement and laughing at the destruction wrought.

Some critics in the Islamic world have claimed the poor quality videotape had been doctored. Bush rejected that.—Reuters