Bin Laden on tape: Attacks 'benefited Islam greatly'(CNN) --Osama
bin Laden recounts with delight the September 11 terrorist attacks
against the United States as he talks with associates on a videotape
released Thursday by the Bush administration. Reveling in the
details of the fatal attacks, bin Laden brags in Arabic that he knew
about them beforehand and says the destruction went beyond his hopes.
He says the attacks "benefited Islam greatly." Bin Laden --
branded by U.S. authorities as the mastermind behind the attacks --
indicates during the recording that he knew for several days that
September 11 would be the date of the attacks. He says he turned
on his radio in advance to listen to coverage of the attacks and that
he underestimated the damage that would be inflicted on the World Trade
Center.
"I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt
the iron structure of the building and collapse the area where the
plane hit and all the floors above it only," he said, according to a
U.S. government translation. "This is all that we had hoped for." The
Bush administration hopes the tape will convince skeptics, particularly
in the Muslim and Arab worlds, of bin Laden's complicity in the attacks. "I think everyone can make their own judgment about it," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "I know what I think." New
York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said the tape removes any doubt that the U.S.
military campaign targeting bin Laden and his associates is "more than
justified." "Obviously, this man is the personification of evil,"
he said. "He seems delighted at having killed more people than he
anticipated, which leaves you wondering just how deep his evil heart
and soul really is." 'Martyrdom operation'Bin
Laden says on the tape that while the hijackers knew they were on a
"martyrdom operation," some did not know anything about the plot until
just before they boarded the planes. He also says those who were
trained to fly didn't know the others. Bin Laden's associates
heap praise on him, fawning over his leadership and insisting that the
attacks would draw hundreds of new followers and help showcase Islam. Even as he showers compliments on bin Laden, one man apologizes for even speaking in bin Laden's presence. "You
have given us hope," said the lieutenant, identified as Shaykh, who
apparently hosted a visit by bin Laden at a guest house in Kandahar,
according to U.S. officials, who also told CNN he was a Saudi. Bin
Laden talks in detail about the hijackings, saying "Mohamed from the
Egyptian family" -- presumed by the U.S.-hired translators to be a
reference to alleged hijacker Mohamed Atta -- was in charge of the
group. Translators described that as a reference to the Egyptian cell
of bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network. The jovial, carefree
nature of the conversation captured on the videotape contrasts with the
gravity of the subject matter. As bin Laden and his colleagues talk
about the collapse of the twin towers, they appear to take delight in
the destruction. "Allah be praised," said one man, a phrase repeated
throughout the tape. "Overjoyed" is how bin Laden describes the
reaction of others. An elder congratulates bin Laden on the
attacks, stating: "The elderly ... everybody praises what you did, the
great action you did, which was first and foremost by the grace of
Allah. This is the guidance of Allah and the blessed fruit of jihad." Dreams of tall buildingsBefore the attacks, bin Laden said some associates had dreams about tall buildings in the United States. "At
that point, I was worried that maybe the secret would be revealed if
everyone starts seeing it in their dream," bin Laden said. Officials
said the approximately hour-long tape, dated November 9 and made in
Kandahar, was not shot in chronological order. The later part of the
meeting is seen first, followed by unrelated shots of a downed U.S.
helicopter and then the first part of the meeting that bin Laden had
with associates. They said they found the videotape in a private
residence in Jalalabad, although they cautioned the nature of its
discovery was more complicated. The tape was released by the Bush
administration after it weighed concerns over protecting U.S.
intelligence sources and methods against the goal of building the
public case against bin Laden. Its delay was complicated by the poor
audio quality of the tape. The Bush administration called on four
outside, non-government translators to review the tape, to counter
possible claims that the White House had doctored it or provided an
inaccurate translation. The tape's release is central to
informing people in the outside world who don't believe bin Laden was
involved in the September 11 attacks, said Sen. Richard Shelby,
R-Alabama, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "I
don't know how they can be in denial after they see this tape," he said. Raghida Dergham of the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat said the tape is "a strong piece of evidence." "It's
not going to convince everyone. You will always have some skeptics out
there. But it will strengthen the view of those who have thought all
along that bin Laden and al Qaeda had been involved," Dergham said. "I
think that the level of denial will decrease."
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