Here is a picture of him with his hair cut and no beard. Heck, i think i seen this guy at the supermarket the other day.
They haven't heard anything from Bin Laden in years. Ohhh wait a minute, there was that one video tape of some guy with a fake beard who was supposed to be Bin Laden. He looked like Humpty Hump from the digital underground. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cj9_yW8tZxs&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cj9_yW8tZxs&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Add 20 years to Humpty Hump, put on a fake beard and they are identical. They even have the same hat.
What if he shaved his beard to get by but put on a fake one to make a video? Right out in the open is the best place to hide usually...