Terrorism, the experts often say, is theater. You cant impress the audience without a being in the spotlight. Weve received a number of e-mails in the last few days criticizing ABCNEWS for providing a platform to a terrorist.
But Bin Ladins threats have become so credible that the State Department has warned all Americans to be on alert when traveling in the Middle East. From our standpoint, hes someone the public needs to know about.
Slipping Over the Border
To get to his camp, we traveled to the northernmost villages of Pakistan with a contact who spent three days checking us out for Bin Ladin. This agent, who called himself Akram, looked over our equipment, asked us questions and examined our credentials. We were told we were going into an area where few Westerners traveled. We were told to get traditional Muslim clothing.
At the last town before the border, Akram met an old man with a long beard and a turban. He seemed to be in charge. We were driven through a rear gate into a walled courtyard behind the old mans house.
Inside, Kalashnikov machine guns hung from the walls on hooks. There were posters diagramming tanks and grenades. We were fed a meal and told to sleep if we could. The journey to Afghanistan would take many hours. We would leave at dusk.
Avoiding the Taliban
Akram rode in the back with us as we left for the border in the same truck but with other men. The border is controlled by the Taliban militia. The Taliban forbids the videotaping of living things, and to complicate matters more, theyve said they dont want Bin Ladin to make any further public statements.
We needed the truck to carry our camera gear, and were given a choice: Don veils, and travel disguised as women in the back of the truck, or walk through the mountains as darkness fell, crossing unseen over the Afghan boarder. Walking across seemed to have a higher likelihood of success.
Our guides led us down a dry riverbed for miles. An hour and a half later, we climbed down the last hill. We were in Afghanistan now. The truck with our equipment was waiting at the bottom of the mountain.
Paranoia Strikes Deep
We drove for hours through rocky valleys. Seldom were we ever on anything resembling a road. We were stopped at several of Bin Ladins checkpoints. Our camera gear was taken from us. Bin Ladins people wanted to check all the equipment, inside and out. They told us they were concerned about our equipment. They said a hidden transmitter could pin-point Bin Ladins location for an air strike. These were very suspicious people.
For two days we waited in a barracks in the camp. We slept on the floor with blankets. Then, on the second night we were told Bin Ladin would see us. Cameraman Rick Bennett, the translator and I got into the back seat of a pick-up truck. Two men we had not seen before drove us. The back windows were tinted darkly, and we were told to keep the windows up. It was clear they didnt want us to see where we were going.
We drove for three hours up roads and through riverbeds. Every few miles, men in Muslim garb would jump out from behind rocks, pointing guns and ordering the truck to halt. The driver had forgotten his letter of transit that would clear our way. At each checkpoint, they consulted with Bin Ladins base by radio.
Suddenly, Gunfire
A few miles further up the mountain, machine gun fire opened up from above us. Through the tinted glass, all I could see was the muzzle flashes from two weapons. The mind races at moments like these. Who is shooting at us? Why? Are the bullets hitting the car?
I was not hearing the sound of impact on metal. None of the glass had shattered. I was trying to duck below the window line, but with three of us packed into the back seat, there was no room for cover. I counted what might have been 50 rounds. My heart was pounding.
But when I looked up, the driver and his partner were sitting up straight, looking out the window. They didnt seem too worried. I sat back up - it was just warning shots - another checkpoint. They hadnt been listening to the radio, so we surprised them. And then they surprised us. They pushed the gun barrels through the windows and shined flashlights in our eyes. After another radio call, we were told to continue up the hill.
Finally, Bin Ladin Appears
Bin Ladin arrived a few moments after we did, his men firing hundreds of tracer rounds into the midnight sky to greet his four-wheel drive truck. There is always a big celebration when he arrives, one of Bin Ladins aides told us.
We had submitted, as a condition to the interview, a list of 16 questions. Bin Ladin said he would answer them all. Then at the last minute, we were told that no follow-up questions could be asked and that Bin Ladin would not allow his answers to be translated on-the-spot. Wed have to wait to have it translated in New York. Thats why while Bin Ladin is vowing to send Americans home in coffins, I am looking at him intently. I had no idea what he was saying and wouldnt until our on translator gave us a post-interview overview.
By the time we got back down the mountain, it was daybreak. We drove for hours to the boarder. We walked back across through the dry barren land.
Back in Pakistan, we returned to the old mans house. He arranged a van and we set off for Islamabad with our tapes of the worlds most dangerous man.