Holder: Bin Laden won't see a courtroom

WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- Osama bin Laden likely won't see a U.S. courtroom because he probably will be killed by his followers or U.S. forces, Attorney General Eric Holder said.

However, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan said the military has not given up the idea of capturing bin Laden, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Holder told lawmakers during a committee hearing Tuesday the al-Qaida mastermind "will never appear in an American courtroom," the newspaper said.

"Let's deal with the reality here," Holder said during questioning by Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas. "The reality is we will be reading Miranda rights to a corpse."

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, U.S. and NATO force commander in Afghanistan, told reporters Wednesday the military would try to capture bin Laden if it could.

"If Osama bin Laden comes inside Afghanistan," he said, "we would certainly go after trying to capture him alive and bring him to justice. I think that is something that is understood by everyone."

Attacks in Pakistan have driven bin Laden and other leaders underground and reduced al-Qaida's ability to plan attacks, CIA Director Leon Panetta told the Post in an interview. Panetta said intelligence operatives recently intercepted a message from an al-Qaida official urging bin Laden to provide leadership to the terrorist organization, the Post reported Wednesday.

Members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science questioned Holder Tuesday about the Justice Department response to the failed Christmas Day bombing plot aboard an airplane as it was landing in Detroit and the aborted decision to try the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind in a civilian court in New York.

Holder became testy as questioning from GOP lawmakers grew heated during a discussion about the hypothetical capture of bin Laden.

No law enforcement response would be necessary, Holder said, because "he will be killed by us or by his own people."

Admitting to being flip, Holder said bin Laden "is not going to be alive."