BIN LADEN AND 9/11
Bin Laden 9/11 planning video aired Last Updated: Thursday,
September 7, 2006 / 10:25 PM ET CBC (Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation)
Just days before the fifth anniversary of the Sept.11 attacks, a
videotape of previously unaired footage of Osama bin Laden and
two of the hijackers surfaced Thursday.
The videotape, believed to have been shot in Afghanistan in the
weeks before the attack, was shown on the Arab television channel
AI-Jazeera.
It includes scenes of men handling weapons and box cutters, and
training to overpower others physically.
In one scene, bin Laden addresses the camera, calling on
followers to support the hijackers:
"I ask you to pray for them and to ask God to make them
successful, aim their shots well, set their feet strong and
strengthen their hearts," bin Laden said.
While the images aren't new, it's the first time bin Laden has
been seen with two men identified as being among the 19 who
carried out the attacks.
They are Wael al-Shehri and Hamza al-Ghamdi. Both helped provide
the muscle on their respective planes - al-Shehri on American
Airlines Flight 11 that crashed into the North Tower of the World
Trade Center, and al-Ghamdi on United Airlines Flight 175, which
hit the South Tower.
They are shown videotaping their living wills.
"Don't be afraid, he says, if you're going to glory," al-Shehri
says.
Bin Laden is also seen conferring with men identified as former
lieutenant Mohammed Atef and Ramzi Binalshibh.
Atef, once dubbed al-Qaeda's No. 3, was killed in a bombing raid
in Afghanistan just two months after 9/11.
Binalshibh at Guantanamo
Binalshibh was among five suspected al-Qaeda members handed over
to the U.S. by Pakistani officials in early 2002.
It has been alleged that Binalshibh was to be part of the
attacks, rounding out to 20 the number of hijackers on the four
aircraft.
He attempted to enter the U.S., but the State Department rejected
him because he couldn't adequately specify why he wanted to be in
the country, or adequately assure officials that he would leave
when the visa expired.
In addition to its timing near the anniversary, the tape's
arrival comes one day after U.S. President George W. Bush
admitted that terrorist suspects have been held in secret CIA
prisons, with Binalshibh said to be in custody at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba, along with other Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah.
While it is believed that bin Laden has delivered audio messages
in recent months, he has not yet appeared in any video footage
after 2004.
The channel also broadcast Thursday a videotape allegedly of Abu
Hamza al-Muhajir, who is said to have taken over leadership of
al-Qaeda in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zargawi was killed in a U.S.
air strike in June.
The tape urges Muslims to unify with the insurgents in Iraq and
promises that "the war has just begun."
With files from the Associated Press
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/09/07/al-gaeda-tape.html
CBC News - World - Bin Laden 9/11 planning video aired 30/05/10
1:44 AM
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