The San Francisco Chronicle December 11, 2001
BUSH BLASTS BIN LADEN TAPE 'WORST OF CIVILIZATION'
By Edward Epstein
A videotape in which Osama bin Laden reportedly gloats over the Sept. 11 attacks shows the suspected terrorist leader has "no conscience and no soul," President Bush said yesterday as his administration debated whether and how to make the tape public.
The 40-minute videotape, discovered in an abandoned house in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, shows bin Laden saying he was pleasantly surprised by the damage the attacks caused, according to those who have seen the tape. He also reportedly says that after the first World Trade Center tower was struck by a hijacked jetliner, he told those with him that more damage was on the way.
The tape also reportedly shows bin Laden saying that some of the 19 hijackers of four jets were unaware until the last minute that they were on suicide missions. "For those who see this tape, they'll realize that not only is he guilty of incredible murder, he has no conscience and no soul," Bush said at a White House ceremony to light a Hanukkah menorah. "He represents the worst of civilization."
The tape apparently was made last month by an amateur, and the sound quality at times is poor, said officials who have seen the video. The Washington Post reported that it had been made at an al Qaeda dinner honoring an older mullah.
In deciding whether to release the tape, the White House balanced a possible public relations victory over bin Laden against intelligence concerns.
Some officials urged that the tape be aired publicly as a way for the United States to erase any question that bin Laden was behind the attacks that killed more than 3,000 people. Bin Laden has denied having anything to do with the attacks, though he praised them.
Others warned that release of the tape could give away who had handed it over to the United States. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said the administration was "working right now with the rest of the U.S. government, particularly with the intelligence agencies, to make sure that if we do release it, that we haven't in any way compromised sources and methods."
GOOD REASONS TO GO PUBLIC
While cautioning that Bush had not made up his mind whether to release the tape, Fleischer said, "There are, in the president's opinion, many good reasons why the tape should be made public."
One reason would be for people to see for themselves and "form their own conclusions," he said.
The Post, quoting senior administration officials, reported that the White House planned to release the tape later this week and was debating whether to add subtitles or voiced-over translation. Adding subtitles instead of an English voice-over, the officials said, would let people hear bin Laden's voice directly in Arabic and might dispel any suspicions the United States had doctored the soundtrack.
The tape reportedly shows bin Laden saying he did not expect both towers of the World Trade Center to collapse and praising God that they did. According to an official quoted by the Post, bin Laden also says he knew Mohamed Atta was in charge of the hijacking group and that some of the "brothers" on the jets did not know what was in store for them.
Bin Laden says on the tape, "They were only told at the time they boarded the planes," the official told the Post.
'DISGUSTING'
"My characterization of it was 'disgusting' " Wolfowitz, one of a handful of officials who have seen the tape, said at a Pentagon news conference. "I mean, that people would take delight in having killed innocent civilians is horrible."
Intelligence expert John Pike said he expected Bush to release the tape.
"I would assume they'd have to," said Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org. "It will be in their interest to do so. I assume all this talk now must be as a teaser to whet our appetite."
He said White House concerns about compromising intelligence sources and methods could involve where the tape was discovered. It could have been taken from a home of someone who turned out to be a CIA informant, for instance, or it could have been taken by a CIA operative.
Pike also speculated that people who don't believe bin Laden and his al Qaeda network were behind the terrorist strikes wouldn't be convinced by the tape and would probably charge that it's fake.
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., a House Intelligence Committee member who hasn't seen the video, told the Associated Press that Bin Laden knows "who was in the meeting or present at that time when he made those comments. If there is an inadvertent disclosure, people's lives could be at risk. You have to weigh that public good versus the danger."
SENATOR FAVORS VIEWING
Sen. Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the tape should be released. "I believe that if you have a choice between treating the American people at arm's length or as adults, you treat them as adults, and they should have the opportunity to see this tape," the Florida Democrat said on CBS-TV. He also hasn't seen it.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice urged U.S. television networks after the Sept. 11 attacks to be careful about airing bin Laden's taped messages for fear they could contain hidden instructions to followers. Fleischer, however, made a distinction yesterday between those tapes, which he called "prepackaged propaganda," and this latest tape, in which bin Laden apparently engages in a spontaneous discussion of the attacks.
Meanwhile, Wolfowitz said the search for bin Laden had stepped up in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border. He said there was no evidence bin Laden had fled the area.
"The American people have to be prepared for the fact that we may be hunting Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan months from now," Wolfowitz said.
Copyright 2001 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
