11.00 am - by RUPERT CORNWELL
The United States says it has a videotape of Osama bin Laden praising God for the September 11 devastation in New York and Washington, which officials say is the most conclusive evidence that the Al Qaeda leader ordered and planned the terrorist attacks.
The 40-minute video, seen by top Bush administration officials but not made public, was apparently found in a private home in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. It is said to show bin Laden describing how he was at dinner when he first learned that a plane had smashed into the World Trade Center. When he informed the other guests, they cheered.
In the video he gestures with his hand to show that he expected the towers to collapse only to the level at which each airliner hit them. He then thanked God for the even greater disaster that had been wrought upon America.
Revelation of the video came as US bombers intensified their onslaught on the mountain redoubts in the Tora Bora region southeast of Jalalabad where the Saudi-born fugitive – now with a $US25m reward on his head – may be making his last stand.
Eyewitnesses said that heavy bombing raids were taking place every 30 minutes. While Northern Alliance spokesmen claimed that bin Laden himself was leading the resistance at the head of a 1,000 strong al Qaeda and Taleban force, US officials were more cautious yesterday.
General Richard Myers, the Joint Chiefs Chairman, told Fox TV that al Qaeda forces were making what could be their last stand at Tora Bora, their final holdout, "and by all accounts, the fighting there is very, very fierce." As for bin Laden himself, "We're still in the hunt up there, we can't be sure, but we think we know in general where he is."
Whatever bin Laden's fate or even whereabouts, Washington is insistent that if he is taken alive, he and other top al Qaeda operatives should be tried before a US tribunal, and not before an international war crimes court as some have suggested.
What is less clear is whether the video will be released. Those who have seen it claim its authenticity has been established – unlike an earlier video made on October 20 allegedly circulating in the Middle East and also demonstrating bin Laden's guilt, but of which Western investigators only saw English transcripts.
This video is in Arabic, and apparently depicts bin Laden being interviewed, and in conversation with an Islamic cleric. Mr Cheney, who said he had seen it, declared that "it makes it pretty clear his significant knowledge of what happened and his undoubted responsibility for September 11." More bluntly Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy Defense Secretary, said the tape was "disgusting."
But a familiar argument has now broken out within the Administration –between the State Department and others who believe the US should release conclusive proof, once it secures it, to convince doubters in the Muslim world of bin Laden's guilt, and others like Mr Cheney who feel that the Saudi-born fugitive has already had all the free publicity he needs.
Thus far the camp of caution has prevailed. Washington has made purported evidence available to friendly governments, but on condition it was not made fully public. On October 4, Pakistan, an uneasy but crucial ally in Operation Enduring Freedom, said it had seen evidence "sufficient for indictment of bin Laden in a court of law." But Islamabad gave no details.
A final decision will be taken by Karen Hughes, President Bush's close adviser, who heads the special communications unit jointly set up by Britain and the US to conduct the public relations war against the Taleban and al Qaeda.
Both countries are acutely aware of the continuing reluctance in much of the Arab and Muslim world to believe that bin Laden's organisation plotted the attacks which took some 4,000 lives. But they fear that if proof is released by Washington, rather than a more neutral source, suspicions will only multiply that it was been concocted.
Reaching out to reassure Arab opinion, Mr Cheney denied that the US had any intention of making a military occupation of Afghanistan, once the immediate job of rounding up al Qaeda was complete.
Washington, he said, had a continuing obligation to support the interim government due to take over in Kabul on December 22, and it would probably offer assistance to the multinational peacekeeping force which is currently being put together. It also wanted to make sure that none of the al Qaeda elements remained. But, he insisted, "we have no intention of getting into a military occupation."
- INDEPENDENT
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Links: War against terrorism
Timeline: Major events since the Sept 11 attacks
US claims bin Laden gloated after terror attacks
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