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Bush on tape: 'This is bin Laden unedited'
©Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON -- President Bush called it "preposterous" Friday to suggest that the tape of Osama bin Laden had been doctored and said he didn't care whether the terrorist leader was dead or alive when found. "I don't care," the president said, as the military operation in Afghanistan focused increasingly on capturing al-Qaida and Taliban leaders. "Dead or alive, either way. It ... doesn't matter to me." In his first public comments about the bin Laden tape since it was televised around the world on Thursday, Bush brushed aside any notion that it was less than authentic. "That's just a feeble excuse to provide weak support for an incredibly evil man," he said. The president read the transcript of the tape two weeks ago. He said he wanted the video made public as soon as possible and called it "a devastating declaration of guilt" by the man who he contends is the mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But, Bush said Friday, he was also reluctant to let the tape be shown, out of concern for the feelings of the victims' families. Administration officials have said that the video has a date stamp of Nov. 9 and was found in the ruins of a building in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, that appeared to have been hastily vacated. "This is bin Laden unedited," Bush said of the tape, which shows the man at the focus of the American war effort serene and often smiling as he recounts his role in the attacks. "This is bin Laden, the bin Laden who has murdered people," Bush said. "This is the man who sent innocent people to their death. This is a man who's so devious and coldhearted that he laughs about the ... so-called suicide bombers that lost their lives." Among those already convinced of bin Laden's complicity in the attacks, the video was immediately portrayed as "smoking gun" proof. But parts of the Arab world were skeptical, questioning whether the tape had been fabricated. "Some people think we didn't walk on the moon, and others think Elvis is among us," scoffed Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on NBC's Today show. "Those voices will be drowned out by the voices of reason in the region." Bush even worked the war on terrorism into a speech he delivered at a Washington hotel, where he signed legislation extending a federal antidrug program in schools. "It's so important for Americans to know that the traffic in drugs finances the work of terror, sustaining terrorists," he said. "Terrorists use drug profits to fund their cells to commit acts of murder." His spokesman, Ari Fleischer, was ready with endorsements of the tape from Middle Eastern governments. He read for reporters statements by Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, and the information minister of the United Arab Emirates. "There is no doubt in my mind that bin Laden was behind these operations. The tape confirms that in a way that leaves no room for doubt," said Sheikh Abdullah bin Zaid al Nahayan, the UAE official, Fleischer reported. From the start of the campaign to track down bin Laden, Bush has made it clear that he wanted the Saudi exile "dead or alive." But his comments Friday took on new timeliness as the Afghan militias allied with the United States gained greater control across the country -- particularly in Tora Bora, the mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan where bin Laden may be in hiding. Fleischer said U.S. officials "very strongly believe" that bin Laden remains in Afghanistan.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
