*EPF403 12/13/2001
U.S. Releases Bin Laden Tape
(Tape speaks for itself, U.S. officials say) (760)

By Wendy S. Ross
Washington File White House Correspondent

Washington -- The U.S. government December 13 released a copy of an hour-long videotape that contains a conversation between Usama bin Laden and some of his associates discussing the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon September 11.

"The tape speaks for itself," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters. "People will be able to watch it and listen to it for themselves and form their own judgments," he said.

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, asked to describe the conversation on the tape responded: "I think I will not try to impose my feelings about that tape or that person on other people. I think everyone can make their own judgment about it. I know what I think," he said.

Rumsfeld said in a related Department of Defense press release, "there was no doubt of bin Laden's responsibility for the September 11 attacks before the tape was discovered." The press release said U.S. officials do not know who made the tape.

The tape was acquired "some weeks ago" in a house in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld said, but he would not reveal from whom.

The DoD release said the decision to release the tape "was made after balancing the concerns about any additional pain that could be caused by its release, against the value of having the world fully appreciate what we are up against in the war against terrorism."

The tape has not been edited or modified except to supply English subtitles, the department said.

The comments on the tape, all in Arabic, were translated first by U.S. government translators, then this translation was compared with one done by two other translators -- George Michael of the Diplomatic Language Services; and Kassem M. Wahba, Arabic language program coordinator, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.

DoD said there were no inconsistencies in the translations.

Asked about the reaction of President Bush to the tape, Fleischer said the President has known all along, "through other sources, methods and means," that Usama bin Laden was behind the September 11 attacks on the United States.

"That's been clear from really the very first days after the attack took place. So it came as no surprise to the President that Usama bin Laden would be taking responsibility and having advance knowledge of the attack, because that's consistent with other information."

Fleischer pointed out that Bush, when asked about the videotape earlier in the week, said it "is further proof this is a just cause that the United States is engaged in. He referred to Usama bin Laden as a murderer who would seek to destroy civilization if we do not stop him, and what a evil man Usama bin Laden is. That was the President's reaction throughout it all."

The tape was found in a home in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Fleischer said, and "was subsequently brought to the attention of U.S. officials, and then it was sent to the United States."

Bush was first informed of the tape on November 29th, during his intelligence briefing at the White House, and first viewed portions of it on November 30.

From that point on, Fleischer said, Bush wanted to release it publicly if it proved to be authentic and did not compromise intelligence.

"We do not see this tape in the same context as the previous tapes" because it is not a prepackaged tape that Usama bin Laden wanted distributed, Fleischer said.

Rumsfeld, at the December 13 Defense Department news briefing, said the tape was "put through a process by various people in the government to make sure that it was authentic, that it was, in fact, who it appeared to be.

"It was then looked at to see if it had been tinkered with. And it then was translated into English by one expert, and then it was taken to at least two other experts for translations and to determine consistency. It took some time, and we believe it was done carefully, but we do not stand behind it," he said.

"It is not our tape. It is not our translation. We did the best we could. We tried also to see that the words were put in reasonably close proximity on the tape to the individual speaking the words, so that the body language would connect. It is what it is; take it for what you wish to. As I say, I didn't need it to have conviction on this subject."

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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