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Tape Offers First Non-U.S. Proof of Bin Laden Terror Role

Smoking Gun?

Tuesday, April 16, 2002
ABCNews.com

Arab TV officials say a new video of Osama bin Laden is the first evidence not produced by the U.S. government to tie the accused terror mastermind to the Sept. 11 attacks.

An official at Al Jazeera TV, which broadcast the tape, said that carries special significance, especially to the Arab and Muslim worlds.

"This is the first clear evidence in their own mouth that bin Laden and al Qaeda [are] responsible for Sept. 11," said Hafez El-Mirazi, Al Jazeera's Washington bureau chief. "That might not be important for the American audience, but it's very important for the Arab and Muslim audience."

The tape, which contains several segments that appear to have been made at different times, features bin Laden, top al Qaeda deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and a man identified as one of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

The U.S. government has accused bin Laden of being the mastermind of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that killed about 3,000. Last December, the Pentagon released a video of bin Laden discussing the planning of the Sept. 11 attacks, but the video's credibility was questioned by some Arabs and Muslims.

The new video, complete with narration and graphics, was delivered by hand to the Qatar-based station a week ago from the same source that delivered two other bin Laden videos in recent months, executives said.

Al Jazeera waited to release the video until officials felt confident the tape, which was produced for television complete with narration and superimposed images, was authentic and the tape could be translated, officials said.

The full hour-long video will air on Al Jazeera on Thursday. More than 35 million Arabs around the world and 150,000 in the United States watch the network.
(More: ABCNews.com News Source)
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