 ...Bin Laden, appearing in a video on Al Jazeera four days before the U.S. presidential election and gesturing at the camera with a finger to stress points, made his clearest comments yet taking responsibility for the Sept 11 attacks. "Despite entering the fourth year after Sept. 11, Bush is still deceiving you and hiding the truth from you and therefore the reasons are still there to repeat what happened," said the al Qaeda leader, making his first video appearance for more than a year. The Bush administration resembled "corrupt" Arab governments, he said.
Bin Laden, apparently sitting or standing at a table against a neutral brown background, wore a white head covering and white tunic under a light brown cloak. Reading from a sheet of paper, his voice was strong and he appeared in fair health, his full beard a mixture of white and dark gray.
A U.S. official said U.S. intelligence agencies believed that it appeared to be bin Laden on the tape. An editor at Al Jazeera said the Qatar-based channel had received the video tape on Friday but did not say how. He said the tape was new but did not give any details. Saudi-born bin Laden appeared in a video tape broadcast by Al Jazeera in September 2003, showing him and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri descending a mountainside calling for jihad and praising the Sept. 11 hijackers. In April, Arab television stations broadcast an audio tape purportedly from bin Laden offering a three-month truce to Europeans if they withdrew troops from Muslim nations. The deadline expired with no word from bin Laden.
"We decided to destroy towers in America," bin Laden said, referring to the World Trade Center. "God knows that it had not occurred to our mind to attack the towers, but after our patience ran out and we saw the injustice and inflexibility of the American-Israeli alliance toward our people in Palestine and Lebanon, this came to my mind," he said.
| That kind of leaves out the first WTC bombing, and the attacks on U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam, and the U.S.S. Cole... |
He accused President Bush of "misleading" the American people since the 2001 suicide airline hijackings that hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "Your security is not in the hands of (Democratic candidate John) Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands," bin Laden said.
| "All you have to do is what we tell you to do..." |
"To the U.S. people, my talk is to you about the best way to avoid another disaster," he said. "I tell you: security is an important element of human life and free people do not give up their security. If Bush says we hate freedom, let him tell us why we didn't attack Sweden, for example.
| My guess is that they didn't get around to it. They have hit Turkey and Spain, and they've made enough tries is Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. |
"It is known that those who hate freedom do not have dignified souls, like those of the 19 blessed ones," he said, referring to the 19 hijackers.
| I agree. They didn't have dignified souls. Malevolent souls, yes... |
"We fought you because we are free
and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours." |