Bin Laden's Innocence

[Guest]

In an unbroadcast video tape made last month, Osama bin Laden declares that his al Qaeda network "instigated" the Sept. 11 attacks, the British government said today, and explains that "if avenging the killing of our people is terrorism, let history be a witness that we are terrorists."

Bin Laden made the video on Oct. 20 for distribution among al Qaeda members, Prime Minister Tony Blair said today in an address to Parliament. On the tape, a British government document says, an interviewer asks bin Laden about the attacks on New York and Washington, and the Saudi replies: "It is what we instigated, for a while, in self-defense. And it was revenge for our people killed in Palestine and Iraq.

"Bush and Blair . . . don't understand any language but the language of force," bin Laden goes on, according to Blair. "Every time they kill us, we will kill them, so the balance of terror can be achieved."

The British government did not release the video or a full transcript, saying it does not have a copy of the video but has information about it from intelligence sources.

Blair cited the video as he set out the case against bin Laden in a speech to the British Parliament. Expanding on a previous summary of evidence that he issued on Oct. 4, he declared that "there is no doubt whatever of the guilt of bin Laden and his associates."

While bin Laden's involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks has not been widely questioned in the United States, there is an undercurrent of opinion among many Muslims that the multi-millionaire Saudi may have been set up as a scapegoat by Washington and London.

In a poll published Wednesday by the British polling company ICM, 500 Muslims across Britain were asked whether they believed that bin Laden was guilty of organizing the Sept. 11 attacks. Twenty-one percent said yes, while 67 percent said no.

In an attempt to counter such skepticism, Blair has functioned as the U.S.-led anti-terrorism coalition's chief prosecutor, often releasing more details than have U.S. officials. Today's statement was put out not only in English, but in Arabic and Urdu, the main language of Pakistan, so as to reach people in the Moslem world.

In his Oct. 4 statement, he said that Western governments have proof that bin Laden indicated shortly before Sept. 11 that he was preparing "a major attack on America," that he ordered close associates around the world to return to Afghanistan by Sept. 10, and that one of his top lieutenants admitted the bin Laden organization was responsible for the suicide attacks.

British officials have given few details on how such information was obtained, generally attributing it to intelligence sources.

According to Blair, bin Laden in the new video describes the Sept. 11 attacks as "good terrorism."

"The bad terror is what America and Israel are practicing against our people," bin Laden is quoted as saying. "What we are practicing is the good terror that will stop them doing what they are doing."

"The battle has been moved inside America," he says, "and we shall continue until we win this battle, or die in the cause and meet our maker."

In making his case today, Blair also said that intelligence sources have now linked a majority of the 19 men identified as Sept. 11 hijackers with al Qaeda. In his Oct. 4 statement, Blair had said there were clear connections with "at least three" of the hijackers.

A British government statement released today also said that a senior bin Laden associate has admitted since Oct. 4 to have trained some of the hijackers in Afghanistan.

London's Sunday Telegraph newspaper also cited the new bin Laden video in this week's edition, saying that bin Laden used the tape to justify killing the victims in the World Trade Center.

"The twin towers were legitimate targets, they were supporting US economic power," the newspaper quotes bin Laden as saying. "What was destroyed were not only the towers, but the towers of morale in that country. The towers were supposed to be filled with supporters of the economical powers of the United States who are abusing the world. We are treating them like they treated us."

[Guest]

i'm almost sure that Bin Laden is not responsible for the attacks of NY. if we examined the issue logically: first, Bin Laden did not admit anything in the video tape. he just praised the ones who made it, and what he said about Palestine and Iraq was an explanation for his support for such attacks. second, whether he admitted or not, the american planes were striking Afghanistan night and day , so he has nothing to lose if he admitted. third, he believes that such an attack is an honour to him, and he will never be able in his life to do such a thing again(if he really did it), so why don't he gain this honour???
i don't deny that i share his opinion about the people in the WTC to some extent. actually, they r the ones who destroy the economy of the developing countries everyday. and they r the guardians of the american domination in the world, so they r not that innocent!!!
GOD DAMN AMERICA!

[red head]

bullshit. anyone who praises these attacks and therefore encourages further attacks is not innocent whether or not they did it. there is absolutely no justifying killing 5,600 innocent people (and these people were innocent, with families to feed. they didn't go to work every day with the idea that they were killing people in the third world. and you're forgetting about the people in the planes) , no matter what their government did. this man is in a position of extreme power and is encouraging extreme hate and violence toward all members of a particular nation. there is no justifying that at all. i don't care what our government has done, i don't condone that either. bin laden is extremely smart, he's not just saying things in the heat of the moment because he's mad at the US. when he said he supported the wtc attacks, he knew he was inciting something. as horrible as it sounds, if bin laden were dead, i think a few lives would be saved not because al-qaeda can't go on without him, but because without him, they will loose a powerful income source, figurehead, and brain, and that will significantly stall their operation, and any stall will thwart terrorist activities.

[Guest]

red head,
WE ALL PAY FOR WHAT OUR GOVERNMENTS DO!!!!!
THE AFGHANIS R PAYING TODAY FOR THE POLICY OF THEIR GOVERNMENT! ALSO, THE IRAQIS R PAYING FOR THE DECISIONS OF THEIR GOVERNMENT! ONE MILLION IRAQI CHILDREN DIED AS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE AMERICAN SANCTIONS! MORE THAN 700 PALESTINIANS WERE KILLED SINCE THE BEGINNIG OF INTIFADA AND MORE THAN 15,000 WERE INJURED BY THE AMERICAN WEAPONS IN THE HANDS OF THE RUTHLESS ISRAELI SOLIDERS! SO WHY DON'T THE AMERICANS TRY FOR JUST ONCE THE MEANING OF PAIN AND AGONY WHICH THEY SPREAD ALL OVER THE WORLD????
THE BULLSHIT IS THE AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY!!!!

[Guest]

red head,
WE ALL PAY FOR WHAT OUR GOVERNMENTS DO!!!!!
THE AFGHANIS R PAYING TODAY FOR THE POLICY OF THEIR GOVERNMENT! ALSO, THE IRAQIS R PAYING FOR THE DECISIONS OF THEIR GOVERNMENT! ONE MILLION IRAQI CHILDREN DIED AS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE AMERICAN SANCTIONS! MORE THAN 700 PALESTINIANS WERE KILLED SINCE THE BEGINNIG OF INTIFADA AND MORE THAN 15,000 WERE INJURED BY THE AMERICAN WEAPONS IN THE HANDS OF THE RUTHLESS ISRAELI SOLIDERS! SO WHY DON'T THE AMERICANS TRY FOR JUST ONCE THE MEANING OF PAIN AND AGONY WHICH THEY SPREAD ALL OVER THE WORLD????
THE BULLSHIT IS THE AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY!!!!

[red head]

people shouldn't pay for their governments actions, bottom line. the US is only worse than the taliban because it's far bigger than the taliban. i hate the united states foreign policy as much as anyone but the only thing i hate more is religious fanaticism.

[CheGuevara]

Regardless of whether he was involved in the Trade Center shit, which I'm 99% sure he was, I wouldn't mind seeing bin Ladin catch a bullet for the bombings in Africa, to which he was indisputably linked. However, the US would never go to all this trouble for "just" 200 something black people, and not even American black people(i.e. they can vote, so they have to care about them no matter how much they hate them), but Africans.

[Michael]

I think it's an inside job.Even if Landen is involved with the "attack"(somehow he is),it's still an inside job..Cannot believe that the CIA had nothing to do with the "attack" and ...don't believe a word that Bush and Blair are saying.That's bullshit!!