Bin Laden 'virtually impotent', says Bush adviser

Osama bin Laden is “virtually impotent” and does not appear to be triggering a new attack against the US despite the release of a videotape with his first message in a year, President George W Bush’s homeland security adviser said today.

“This is about the best he can do,” Frances Fragos Townsend said about the fugitive al-Qaida leader whose terrorist network is believed to be regrouping in the lawless Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.