DECEMBER 09, 10:59 ET

Video Links bin Laden With Attacks

WASHINGTON (AP) — A videotape of Osama bin Laden obtained by U.S. officials in Afghanistan makes clear the al-Qaida leader was behind the terrorist attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday.

``He does in fact display significant knowledge of what happened and there's no doubt about his responsibility for the attack on September 11,'' Cheney said.

The tape shows bin Laden being interviewed or meeting with a cleric. He is speaking in Arabic and discussing the terrorist attacks, said Cheney, who said he had seen parts of the tape.

``This is one more piece of evidence confirming his responsibility,'' Cheney said on NBC's ``Meet the Press.''

In the 40-minute tape, bin Laden said he was at a dinner when he was told a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, according to The Washington Post, quoting unidentified senior government officials. Bin Laden shared the information with others at the dinner and they cheered.

Bin Laden described the damage around the twin towers in New York as greater than expected and praised Allah for more success than anticipated, according to the officials.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said the tape ``confirms everything we've known about him already.'' He said on ABC's ``This Week'' that with the tape's discovery, ``Maybe we've stop hearing any more of these insane conspiracy theories that somehow the U.S. has made this up or somebody else did it.''

The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, said he had seen portions of the tape. Intelligence officials are still trying to determine if the tape is authentic and if so, what it means, Myers said on ``Fox News Sunday.''

Bin Laden appeared relaxed, Myers said later on CBS' ``Face the Nation,'' as if he were having ``a private conversation.''

The tape was said to have been found in a private home in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and Bush administration officials are debating whether and how to make it public, the Post reported.

Cheney did not say how the United States obtained the tape.

While officials have said they intercepted communications that allegedly tied bin Laden or associates to the attacks, they have refused to release any materials, citing intelligence concerns. But British and Pakistani officials have said Washington has provided them with evidence they say shows bin Laden's role in the attacks.

Asked if the government would make the tape public, Cheney said that was not his decision. But, he added, ``We've not been eager to give the guy any extra television time.''

Some officials hope that making the tape public could counter concern in the Muslim world that bin Laden has been unjustly accused of involvement in the attacks, the Post said.

In October, after the Bush administration expressed concern, U.S. television networks agreed not to air video transmissions from bin-Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network without screening them first. The administration called the tapes propaganda.

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-- Anonymous, December 09, 2001

Answers

It will be interesting to see if this puts a dent in the claims in the Arab world that the Israelis were responsible for WTC.

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2001