“Bin Laden’s escape from Tora Bora [in Afghanistan in December 2001] was a touchy subject, a deflating counter to all the brave talk of ‘dead or alive’ that had launched the war on terror. [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld’s solution was to cast doubt on the possibility that bin Laden had been there at all, telling the press some months later [at a Pentagon briefing on April 17, 2002] that he was unaware of ‘any evidence that he was in Tora Bora at the time, or that he left Tora Bora at the time, or even where he is today.’ “
– Andrew Cockburn, Rumsfeld, Page 133