Post by r-dub on Oct 29, 2004 16:40:25 GMT -5
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has appeared on a new videotape directly admitting to organizing the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and threatening more attacks to come.
Al-Jazeera broadcast parts of the 18-minute-long tape Friday evening.
In his clearest comments yet taking responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, bin Laden addresses the American people and says the 9/11 attacks were carried out because "we are a free people ... and we want to regain the freedom of our nation.''
"We decided to destroy towers in America,'' the al Qaeda leader says, adding the attacks were even more destructive than they had hoped.
He ads that he thought of the idea of attacking the U.S. skyscrapers when he saw Israeli aircraft bombing tower blocks in Lebanon in 1982.
Appearing healthy and reading from a sheet of paper, he says the attacks would have been less severe if U.S. President George Bush had been more alert.
"It never occurred to us that the commander in chief of the country would leave 50,000 citizens in the two towers to face those horrors alone ... because he thought listening to a child discussing her goats was more important," bin Laden said, referring to Bush's visit to a school when the attack occurred.
Speaking just days ahead of the U.S. presidential election, he then says the United States could face new attacks because the reasons for mounting the Sept. 11 strikes still exist.
"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," bin Laden tells Americans.
This is the first video of the al Qaeda leader to surface in more than a year
Al-Jazeera did not say how it received the tape nor how it has concluded that it is authentic.
The Qatari-based channel has previously received audio and videotapes from people linked to al Qaeda.
Al-Jazeera broadcast parts of the 18-minute-long tape Friday evening.
In his clearest comments yet taking responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, bin Laden addresses the American people and says the 9/11 attacks were carried out because "we are a free people ... and we want to regain the freedom of our nation.''
"We decided to destroy towers in America,'' the al Qaeda leader says, adding the attacks were even more destructive than they had hoped.
He ads that he thought of the idea of attacking the U.S. skyscrapers when he saw Israeli aircraft bombing tower blocks in Lebanon in 1982.
Appearing healthy and reading from a sheet of paper, he says the attacks would have been less severe if U.S. President George Bush had been more alert.
"It never occurred to us that the commander in chief of the country would leave 50,000 citizens in the two towers to face those horrors alone ... because he thought listening to a child discussing her goats was more important," bin Laden said, referring to Bush's visit to a school when the attack occurred.
Speaking just days ahead of the U.S. presidential election, he then says the United States could face new attacks because the reasons for mounting the Sept. 11 strikes still exist.
"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," bin Laden tells Americans.
This is the first video of the al Qaeda leader to surface in more than a year
Al-Jazeera did not say how it received the tape nor how it has concluded that it is authentic.
The Qatari-based channel has previously received audio and videotapes from people linked to al Qaeda.