Challenges of Hunting Bin Laden

Sept. 27 -- Every available American satellite and high-tech listening device is focused on Afghanistan, seeking what the United States has never had with Osama bin Laden, what it calls "eyes on target."

"We're using very high-tech methods to look at a very low-tech country," said Dwayne Day, a leading authority on satellite technology.

"'Eyes on target' means you see the person you're going after and you know they're there," said author Mark Bowden.

"It's like looking for a needle in a haystack or a needle in a football field," says Tom Carew, a former British special forces commando who led secret missions into Afghanistan.

In fact, U.S. intelligence agencies have not even had "ears on target" — the ability to monitor bin Laden's communications — for at least a year.

"Bin Laden was able to determine that we knew he was using cell phones and satellite technology to communicate with his subordinates, and once that info became public, he ceased to communicate with his co-workers in that way," said former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Not Like the Movies

So now, it's almost like starting from scratch. It's late in the game to insert spies or special forces, said Carew.

"You're gonna have a lot of problems. You're gonna get bogged down there. It's full of holes, they'll shoot and scoot, they'll engage you and they'll go. You'll never be able to dictate the terms or to firefight to them. They will dictate it to you. They'll engage you when you least expect it and vaporize again," he said.

It's a sobering reality for Americans who may think the world of author Tom Clancy and movies like Patriot Games are real.

"What you see in the movies, when they're pointing a satellite down at a terrorist training camp and trying to figure out what's going on … when you see the live images of commandos running around on the ground shooting people and being relayed back to Washington in real time, that's really not how things work," said Day.