Bin Laden hunt still on, Bush aide says

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- President George Bush has been directing the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and the effort to stop an attack on the United States again, Bush's spokeswoman said.

On the eve of the seventh anniversary of the attacks, press secretary Dana Perino said the hunt for bin Laden "will continue to go on until he is brought to justice."

Even though bin Laden hasn't been caught, several of his top people have been, Perino said.

"Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, is in jail today, and he is awaiting trial," she said. "That is something we should all be thankful for, not only just for the fact that he is no longer out, able to plot and plan, but we should be very thankful for the work that our intelligence community has done to bring some of these people to justice. "

When asked whether bin Laden is as important now as he was seven years ago, Perino said Bush "believes it's important for us to hunt and track down and bring to justice Osama bin Laden."

Bin Laden's evading capture speaks not only about the limits of the reach of U.S. military and intelligence communities, but "I think that it also says a lot about the geography" of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border where where bin Laden is believed to be hiding, she said.