Capturing Bin Laden On Camera

John Miller, then with ABC, interviews Osama bin Laden in 1998. He spoke about the experience yesterday at the trial of bin Laden's former driver. (Abc News)

"They came in, and they looked in the bathroom, behind the shower curtain, in the closet," Miller recalled in his characteristic deep monotone. "It was a bit of a surprise visit."

Miller and his cameraman and Iraqi translator (the sound man and producer were nixed) were told to be ready at 7 a.m., dressed in traditional Afghan clothing. They were sent on a plane to Peshawar, Pakistan, escorted by an al-Qaeda member, Miller testified.

One of bin Laden's men insisted on paying the airfare. The source of that funding was not made clear.

The following morning, the newsmen were off by propeller plane to an obscure Pakistani northwestern town called Bannu. "The airport is not much more than a cinderblock building," Miller said. "It opens for the flight that comes in and closes shortly after."

In Bannu, the crew was left by a roadside. Eventually, a bus pulled up, and a man with a long white beard emerged. After a three-hour bus ride, he guided Miller and crew into a minivan, which barreled to a gated house with AK-47s hanging from the walls inside.

That led to a long ride in the back of a pickup, where they sat on sacks of flour. "We drove in riverbeds and across wilderness," Miller said.

He and the crew eventually were hauling their bags and 15-pound television camera across the rugged border into Afghanistan.

They were urged to keep the camera out of sight. Afghanistan's Taliban rulers had "outlawed cameras and the photographing of human beings," Miller said.

Driven through the night, the crew came to a fork in the road. They were greeted by a friendly man and another who grimly confiscated their camera.

Did the men introduce themselves, a prosecutor asked Miller.

"No, not formally," he said.

The smiling man, Miller would later realize, was Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's No. 2 aide and still a fugitive today like his boss. The unfriendly man was Muhammad Atef, al-Qaeda's security chief, who was later killed by U.S. bombs two months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.