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OK, I hatge OBL as much as anyone, but I have to make a few observations about this tape and the way it was characterized.

This tape was characterized by the govt as "the smoking gun" proof the OBL planned the WTC attacks. There's still a good chance that he did, but all this tape shows is that he had knowledge of the attacks before hand, and had given some thought as to the damage they might cause. In fact, he says, "We had notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place that day." That to me, sounds like he was just in the loop, not planning it. After all, it's not like he said, "I gave the order for it to happen the previous Thursday," or that he even approved it.

I thought it was interesting that the Shaykh said, "They (the Americans) were terrified thinking there was a coup." I guess when something like that happens in countries in the Mid-East, one assumes a coup is going on. I can't believe there were many Americans who actually thought someone was trying to take over our government, despite the panic and confusion.

OBL was also characterized as laughing at the hijackers who didn't know that they were going to die on the plane. This is what he actually said:

The brothers, who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation and we asked each of them to go to America but they didnÕt know anything about the operation, not even one letter. But they were trained and we did not reveal the operation to them until they are there and just before they boarded the planes.

So the hijackers may not have known the complete plan, but it seems clear that they knew they were going to die.

And finally, this tape was dated November 9, because there was a date stamp on the video. Not proof positive, but everything else is consistent with that. If that's the case, I think it's very significant that there was no mention of Anthrax at all.

So the hijackers may not have known the complete plan, but it seems clear that they knew they were going to die.

I agree. "martyrdom operation" says it all. I think that Big Media and some of the Congressmen have misread this one - Big Time. I've read it a dozen times and I come to the same conclusion as you.

You're right that OBL apparently did not admit that the muscle hijackers were unaware that the mission was a suicide mission. But he did at least admit they were not told the whole truth about the mission. And, while he did say they knew their mission was a suicide mission, he may not have been telling the truth in saying this.