By Mike Rudin
The Conspiracy Files
Osama Bin Laden died eight years ago during the battle for Tora Bora in Afghanistan, either from a US bomb or from a serious kidney disease.
Or so the conspiracy theory goes.
The theory that has developed on the web since 9/11 is that US intelligence services are manufacturing the Bin Laden statements to create an evil bogeyman, to justify the so-called war on terror in Afghanistan, Iraq and back at home.
So is the world's most wanted man still alive?
For a decade, Osama bin Laden has managed to evade the world's superpower and the biggest manhunt in history.
Bruce Riedel, who chaired President Barack Obama's Afghanistan/Pakistan policy review, and who has seen the intelligence on Bin Laden, says the trail has not so much gone cold as "frozen over".
"We don't have a clue where he is," he says.
In the absence of any concrete intelligence, Bin Laden has become shrouded in myth and rumour.
'Certainly fake'
Numerous audio and video statements purporting to be from Bin Laden have been released, but their authenticity has been continually questioned.
The veracity of all of the videos is questioned by David Ray Griffin, a former theology professor and member of the 9/11 Truth Movement, which also questions mainstream accounts of the attack on the World Trade Centre.
"None of them can be proven to be authentic," he says. "At least three of them can be shown to be almost certainly fake.
"And if somebody is faking Bin Laden videos, then that leads to the suspicion that all the videos and audio tapes have been faked."
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