Posted on 12/10/2001 8:01:06 AM PST by dead
A seized video shows Osama bin Laden "amused" that some of the terrorists in the September 11 attacks thought they were merely hijackers and did not realise they were going to die, says a United States official.
The Bush Administration is yet to decide whether to release the 40-minute video, which it says proves bin Laden had prior knowledge of the attacks on the US. But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it showed the Saudi-born terrorist at a dinner last month, apparently "amused by the fact that some of these people who were martyred thought they were just taking part in a hijacking".
This supports an FBI theory that up to a dozen of the 19 men involved in the terrorist operation were footsoldiers, or "muscle", used to quell any opposition from crew and passengers on the hijacked planes, and did not know it was a suicide mission. The videotape was found in a house in Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan. Officials said it showed bin Laden in an apparently private conversation with a Muslim cleric.
One FBI official said the prayers found at the crash sites appeared to exhort the foot soldiers to be strong in prison, unlike the instructions found in the luggage of the ringleader, Mohammad Atta, which made it clear he believed he was going to paradise.
This would follow the al-Qaeda manual: "The operation members should not all be told about the operation until shortly before executing it in order to avoid leaking of its news."
The US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, who has seen parts of the tape, said bin Laden displayed intimate knowledge of the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, leaving "no doubt about his responsibility".
Mr Cheney, the Deputy Defence Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Richard Myers, all confirmed the existence of the tape.
Asked about releasing the tape, Mr Cheney said: "We have not been eager to give the guy any extra television time than he could obtain for himself. But I think we'd probably rely on the experts as to whether or not it'd be a good idea for us to release it." Another hitch was protecting the intelligence "sources and methods" used to obtain it.
We can send this video to “Afghanistan’s Funnies Home Videos” right after we blow him up.
"Hey Al-Jabir-Al-Hajib-Al-Hudunit we got a little hijacking job for you." "Noo, not me Sahib."
It shows that Bin had trouble finding enough young men who crave death. These people are full of hyperbole and bluster.
Only the BIG FAT UGLY ones!
"We have this wonderful proof, which, if only you could see it, would convince you we are right."
RIIIGHT...!
This stinks on ice.
1, Are they martyrs or murder victims?
2, If they were lied to about the hijackings, what else were they lied to about?
3,If the moslems lie to you about murdering you while calling it martyrdom, what other lies have they told you about allah and paradise?
4, since Islam readily supports lieing and is based on lies, how can anyone believe any of it?
5, Since God is holy and Islam is not, how can it be of God?
While such statements from government officials should not necessarily be accepted at face value, it is pretty clear that showing a video tape that was recorded under circumstances where the person recording it could almost certainly be traced and identified based on the angle that it was taken from and the people nearby, would compromise the "sources and methods" used to obtain it.
Death is too good for Ben Ladin unless he can be killed several times.
RIIIGHT...!
This stinks on ice.
The release of the tape should come soon and quell that suspicion. This isn't a replay of Bill Clinton and the Terrorist Aspirin Factory.
When I die, I hope I go to hell, because that's where the best broads are! I suppose that rules out martyrdom for me.
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