White House will release bin Laden tape

WASHINGTON -- The White House plans to release a tape of Osama bin Laden discussing the World Trade Center attack later this week and is studying whether subtitles should be added to translate from Arabic so as to avoid charges that the soundtrack was doctored, a senior administration official told the Washington Post.

The 40-minute videotape, in which bin Laden discussed his advance knowledge and responsibility for the attacks, was made by an amateur hoping to document an al-Qaida dinner last month honoring an older mullah, officials said. The tape's sound is spotty and garbled, according to one official who has seen segments of the tape and been shown the transcript, the Post reported.

On the tape, bin Laden reportedly praises God that both towers collapsed when he had expected more limited destruction.

As the group sits on the floor eating from bowls and being served from silver trays, bin Laden jokes that his own press aide, Sulaiman abu Ghaith, had no advance knowledge of the attacks and rushed to tell him when news reports first came in.

Bin Laden also tells the group he knew Mohamed Atta was in charge of the hijacking group and that some of the "brothers" who conducted the operation did not know the nature of the work they were asked to do, the official told the Post.

President Bush said the portions of the tape he saw reinforced his will to pursue bin Laden's al-Qaida network. "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, that he represents the worst of civilization."

Intelligence officials, who recently obtained the tape in a private home in Jalalabad, have checked it with experts inside and outside the U.S. government and last week told the White House they considered it authentic.

Since that time there has been an internal debate as to when and how to release it. Some have argued it could be used to counter overseas critics in the Muslim world who want evidence made public of bin Laden's role in the Sept. 11 attacks that took the lives of more than 3,300 people in New York City and Washington.

Others worry that the tape's release could jeopardize the chance of acquiring additional evidence of bin Laden's guilt.

Part of the concern centers on the fact that the tape's Arabic soundtrack is unintelligible at times. Accompanying it with a separate English language transcript would raise questions of its authenticity, one official told the newspaper.

Subtitles added to the videotape, one official said Monday, would show the Arabic that is spoken directly by bin Laden.

A White House official said the administration is evaluating either subtitles or a voiced-over translation. Using voiceover, however, would cover over the Arabic being spoken.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright