Pulitzer prize winning journalist Bob Woodward, who helped uncover the Watergate scandal in 1972, says that the October surprise in the run-up to the presidential election could be the death or capture of Osama bin Laden.

Appearing on CNN’s Larry King Live, Woodward was asked by a caller why the U.S. couldn’t utilize its new “secret killing program,” as Woodward had earlier revealed, to capture Osama bin Laden.

Woodward responded, “We’ll see - maybe they can use it on Bin Laden and all of a sudden the September or October surprise is gonna be the apprehension or the death of Bin Laden.

There are new signs today that President Bush is pulling out all the stops to capture or kill Osama bin Laden before his term is up -- or better yet, before the November election.

Back in June, Sarah Baxter wrote in the Times of London about Bush's "final attempt to capture Osama Bin Laden before he leaves the White House.

"Defense and intelligence sources in Washington and London confirmed that a renewed hunt was on for the leader of the September 11 attacks. 'If he [Bush] can say he has killed Saddam Hussein and captured Bin Laden, he can claim to have left the world a safer place,' said a US intelligence source."

But just last week, Sara A. Carter wrote in the Washington Times: "U.S. ground forces crossed the border from Afghanistan and attacked suspected al Qaeda targets in Pakistan on Wednesday as part of an aggressive new strategy to kill or capture Osama bin Laden before President Bush leaves office, U.S. officials said."

And in a major article in The Washington Post today, Craig Whitlock writes about a new spate of Hellfire missile attacks by Predator drone spy planes in Pakistan.

"The attacks are part of a renewed effort to cripple al-Qaeda's central command that began early last year and has picked up speed as President Bush's term in office winds down, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials involved in the operations," Whitlock writes.

President George W Bush has enlisted British special forces in a final attempt to capture Osama Bin Laden before he leaves the White House.

Defence and intelligence sources in Washington and London confirmed that a renewed hunt was on for the leader of the September 11 attacks. “If he [Bush] can say he has killed Saddam Hussein and captured Bin Laden, he can claim to have left the world a safer place,” said a US intelligence source.