Full Bin Laden Tape to be Aired

April 18, 2002 -- After months of silence, Osama bin Laden has appeared on two new tape excerpts this week with more to come as a full version of the tape is expected to air today on Al Jazeera television.

In tape excerpts that aired Monday on the Arab satellite television station Al Jazeera and will be shown in its entirety today, bin Laden, one of his top aides, and a man U.S. officials have identified as one of the Sept. 11 hijackers proclaim victory and appear to implicate themselves in the attacks. Bin Laden did not speak in Monday's tape and is shown sitting silently next to his top deputy, Aymab Al-Zawahiri, who praises the attacks as a "great victory."

"We thank God for the victory we have achieved. This victory can only be attributed to the goodness of God," Zawahiri said, according to the Al Jazeera translation from Arabic to English. "God selects his finest believers for his award. The 19 brothers who sacrificed their lives in the sake of God were rewarded by this victory that we rejoice today."

However, bin Laden did speak on second tape excerpt released by the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation Wednesday. On the tape, bin Laden rejoices the damage the Sept. 11 attacks caused the U.S. economy.

"The aftermath losses cannot be estimated in monetary terms due to its huge number and complexity. Its on the increase thank God," bin Laden said, according to an ABCNEWS Arabic translator. "The amount lost, in the successful attacks reached more than $1 trillion dollars and we thank God for that. May God accept the brothers as martyrs in heaven."

In other parts of the MBC tape, bin Laden also noted that the attacks prompted airlines to lay off thousands of workers and said he had read studies that showed that 70 percent of Americans have suffered from depression or psychological problems since the attacks. Al Qaeda claims official responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks for the first time as spokeman Soliman Abu Kaith says, "We have done what God has ordered us to do. God called on us for 'Jihad' and we complied. … We have hit the head of evil on their home soil."

Last Testament of an Alleged Martyr

On the Al Jazeera's tape, Al Haznawi wore military fatigues over a black shirt and a black-and-white checked scarf around his head and addressed the camera in a style similar to that of Palestinian suicide bombers, who often make similar tapes before embarking on their missions.

"We wanted to send the message written in the color of blood … the essence of the message is that the time of bondage and humiliation is over and the time has come to kill the Americans at home and penetrate their forces and their intelligence," he said, according to Al Jazeera's English translation. "We killed them [Americans] away from their home and today we kill them on their soil."

Then, Al Haznawi said three times in a row: "May God accept me as a martyr." A photo montage of a burning World Trade Center appeared behind Al Haznawi as he spoke. Officials suspect the image was superimposed on the video after the Sept. 11 attacks.

When Were The Tapes Made?

The videotape aired on MBC appeared to be a segment of the one aired on Al Jazeera. Bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri face the camera in the same positions against an apparently identical background. The MBC excerpt also showed slain al Qaeda fighters and members of bin Laden's organization brandishing weapons.

It is not exactly clear when the tapes were made. Al Jazeera officials said their tape, which was delivered by hand by the same source that provided two other bin Laden videos, was titled "The wills of the New York and Washington Battle Martyrs" and included photos of the 19 suspected Sept. 11 hijackers. They believe the footage of Al Haznawi was recorded in Kandahar, Afghanistan six months before the attacks.

Al Jazeera officials speculated that the bin Laden portion of the tape was shot after Sept. 11 but before Oct. 7, when the U.S. military campaign began in Afghanistan, because other previous video clips released video after that date show the al Qaeda leader wearing fatigues or looking ill. U.S. officials have suspected that the background footage in the bin Laden excerpt was also artificially made.

According to MBC station officials, evidence showed that their tape was made in the first half of December. MBC officials did not say how they obtained the tape or what evidence they had indicating the date of the taping.

Tapes Surface Amid Criticism

U.S. troops have been unable to capture bin Laden and many of his top officials, and it remains unclear whether he is dead or alive. These videos are the latest in a series aired by Al Jazeera and others since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States purportedly made by bin Laden's al Qaeda network. In another bin Laden video aired by the Arab station, which is owned by Qatar's government, bin Laden is shown discussing the planning of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The videos surfaced amid reports that the Bush administration has concluded bin Laden was in Tora Bora when U.S. aircrafts began bombing the Afghan cave complex in late November but escaped because troops were not immediately sent to pursue him. Unnamed civilian and military sources told the Washington Post that U.S. officials considered bin Laden's apparent escape a significant defeat and that some felt that Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who is in charge of the military operation in Afghanistan, misjudged the interests of Afghan allies who may have let him get away.

U.S. officials have dismissed the reports as speculation.