OBL almost surely met his maker at Tora Bora. It was not politic to allow that he was dead because the screams from Congress and MSM would have made the whole Afghan war untenable from that point. The Left would have been screaming that the objective of the war was accomplished- OBL was dead therefore we had to leave there NOW. Because the whole war had been cast in the eyes of the people by the Left and MSM as simply an operation to get OBL the people were judged likely to join the clamor. OBL was NOT the object of that operation and his death could not be allowed to abort it.OBL was never an all powerful Joker whose demise would end the Islamic offensive and Revenge was not the US policy or goal. This year it was deemed politic to "kill" OBL so that the kenyanmugabe would have more options. His "death" would not set up a necessity to cease operations because the Left is now running things and don't need that issue.
During The Tora Bora period the CHinese and Indian presses reported information that OBL and Omar had been shot by a faction in their HQ staff and that OBL was dead. Subsequently every time a "communication" came from OBL the CIA said "it could be..." and then was silent.