The New York Times : "According to British officials and CNN, which has a contract with Al Jazeera, the Oct. 20 videotape was not shown on Al Jazeera.The Sunday Telegraph reported its existence, noting that a correspondent had "obtained access to the videotape in the Middle East," the video has not surfaced.

The Sunday Telegraph of London was the only news organization to report that Osama bin Laden had justified the Sept. 11 attacks in a recent video circulating among his supporters. Four days later, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain cited that video as evidence of Mr. bin Laden's complicity.

It was Anthony Loyd, a Times of London reporter, who discovered documents in an abandoned house in Kabul said to contain instructions on how to make a nuclear device.

And when Mullah Muhammad Omar, the spiritual leader of the Taliban, wanted to express his defiance after his troops' ragged retreat on Wednesday, the British Broadcasting Corporation said that he telephoned its World Service network in London. As the BBC recorded, a Taliban aide in Kandahar held a telephone receiver up to a walkie-talkie as Mullah Omar shouted from the other end.

In a week of dramatic, rapidly changing news, British news organizations have broken a noticeable number of news accounts that are not solely a reflection of the competitive zeal of British reporters. Ever since the September attacks on the United States, the British government has shown itself to be far more forthcoming and sophisticated than the White House in giving out information. But in the case of the bin Laden videotape cited by Mr. Blair, no television news organization in Britain or the United States has been able to obtain a copy. Even Mr. Blair relied on a written transcript. British officials would not discuss intelligence sources but said that the prime minister would not rely on the information unless it was 100 percent certain. When asked about the tape, a White House official suggested that questions be directed to 10 Downing Street. Anna Perez, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said, "We have not seen it."

The reticence to release the videotape may have led to one of the more paradoxical twists in the coalition's media campaign: the footage that is said to show Mr. bin Laden at his worst, gloating over the thousands killed on Sept. 11, and that is at the core of the coalition's legal case against him, has not been shown to the public.

According to British officials and CNN, which has a contract with Al Jazeera, the Arab-language network that has aired other bin Laden videotapes, the Oct. 20 videotape was not shown on Al Jazeera. But even after The Sunday Telegraph reported its existence, noting that a correspondent had "obtained access to the videotape in the Middle East," the video has not surfaced — even though the newspaper said the tape had circulated among Mr. bin Laden's supporters for 14 days.

Matthew Furman, a CNN spokesman, said the network was seeking a copy. He noted that the Sunday Telegraph reporter told CNN that he had not actually seen the video, but only the transcript. To date, no news organization has located the videotape, let alone broadcast it. And that surprises 10 Downing Street, which seems to think reporters should have found it by now.

"We know that bin Laden has recorded far more than has been broadcast, and we know that a large number of people have seen the videotape we used to update the documented evidence against him," Alistair Campbell, a spokesman for Mr. Tony Blair, said. "We can only assume that the video was not shown either because his supporters thought it was damaging or the media just thought it was just him ranting." Mr. Campbell said that he had only seen a transcript. "We do not have the videotape," he said.

News organizations would like a first-hand view. "We've been looking for the tape, but it is dry wells everywhere," Erik Sorenson, president of MSNBC, said. "We have only the good word of our good friends the British to go on." Some British journalists, particularly those who work for tabloid newspapers, are known for having a richly imaginative view of accuracy when writing about the royal family or the personal lives of their own politicians. But Britain has produced many rigorous and highly experienced war correspondents, some of whom work for American newspapers and television networks in Afghanistan, including Matthew Chance and Nic Robertson of CNN. Still, no British news organization has yet claimed to have found the missing video.

But BBC officials said there was no mistaking the voice of Mullah Omar when he called their office at 3 a.m. In a five-minute conversation with a reporter from the BBC's Pashto service, Mullah Omar talked about his desire to see the "extinction of America."

The fact that walkie-talkies have a short range suggested that the mullah was trusting or rash, given that coalition forces have been trying to find him and capture or kill him.

Mike Gardener, a BBC spokesman, described the mullah as a "regular listener" who has been interviewed by the network several times. The BBC's World Service network is popular in Afghanistan, partly because of its closely followed soap opera, "New Home, New Life," set in three fictional Afghan villages and dealing with personal relationships as well as issues like war, drought, hygiene and mass starvation. The British government has often been more willing to divulge information to reporters than the White House. It was a top British military officer who warned last October that ground troops might have to operate in Afghanistan for weeks at a time if they were to ferret out Mr. bin Laden.

It was Mr. Blair who first publicly began building the legal case against Mr. bin Laden with his speeches to Parliament. Mr. Blair cleared his decision with the United States government in advance, but the reason Britain took the lead, Mr. Campbell said, was its democratic process.

"There is a difference in our political system, we have to put a lot of information before Parliament and prove it," he noted.



The following is an example of the type of story that was circulated following the so called 'revelation' of the latest Bin Laden 'confession' : Bin Laden: Yes, I did it

OSAMA BIN LADEN has for the first time admitted that his al-Qa'eda group carried out the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, the Telegraph can reveal.

In a previously undisclosed video which has been circulating for 14 days among his supporters, he confesses that "history should be a witness that we are terrorists. Yes, we kill their innocents".

In the footage, shot in the Afghan mountains at the end of October, a smiling bin Laden goes on to say that the World Trade Centre's twin towers were a "legitimate target" and the pilots who hijacked the planes were "blessed by Allah".

The killing of at least 4,537 people was justified, he claims, because they were "not civilians" but were working for the American system.

Bin Laden also makes a direct personal threat against Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, for the first time, and warns nations such as Australia, Germany and Japan to stay out of the conflict.

The video will form the centrepiece of Britain and America's new evidence against bin Laden, to be released this Wednesday.

The footage, to which the Telegraph obtained access in the Middle East yesterday, was not made for public release via the al-Jazeera television network used by bin Laden for propaganda purposes in the past. It is believed to be intended as a rallying call to al-Qa'eda members.

He admits for the first time using public pronouncements on video to whip up terrorism - a danger about which the British and American governments have warned broadcasters.

It is significant that throughout the video he uses the personal pronouns "I" and "we" to claim responsibility for the attacks. In the past, he has spoken of the attackers only in the third person.



Bin Laden had supposedly 'confessed' at least two times before. Immediately after the so-called 'confession' tape was published, Bin Laden promptly made another statement denying responsiblity once again.

BIN LADEN DENIES SEPT. 11 ATTACKS by MSNBC - TEHELKA

Hamid Mir told NBC News that bin Laden specifically denied personal responsibility for the attacks, which are believed to have killed more than 4,000 people at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

INTERVIEW: http://www.tehelka.com/channels/currentaffairs/2001/nov/10/ca111001osama1.htm

Mir told NBC News that bin Laden specifically denied personal responsibility for the attacks, which are believed to have killed more than 4,000 people at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Bin Laden, who has issued at least one fatwah, or religious edict, proclaiming that Muslims are obligated to kill all Americans, appeared to pull back slightly from that position in the newspapers.

The transcript shows bin Laden exclaiming “Yes!” when asked if it “could be said that you are against the American government, not the American people?”

“We are only defending ourselves. This is defensive jihad,” bin Laden said. “... This is a simple formula that even an American child can understand. This is the formula of live and let live.”

According to the transcript, Mir did not ask bin Laden about the apparent adjustment in his proclamation.



Last month when bin laden supposedly confessed what he actually said was "those muslims' and 'God' did it. Now assuming that 'bin laden did it' that does not justify blowing up buildings and bombing civilians you know to prove that blowing up buildings and bombing civilians is wrong ... Remember when timothy mc veigh used a 'daisy cutter' ammonia nitrate bomb ... that was wrong, right ... Anybody heard of 'world court' or 'evidence' or 'trial by jury' ... However the American's have been planning an invasion of Afghanistan since this spring (in order to construct a gas pipe line through the country) and so what we really don't want here is a trial, we want a gas pipe line and this means we want an invasion of Afghanistan...

Here are some previous postings on Bin Laden statements ...

While there is much spin doctoring going on in the press that 'Bin Laden confessed' Reuters gives a more unbiased interpretation of the speech. Bin Laden appears to think that Palestinians did it, but then he doesn't know anymore than anyone else apparently. He says that 'those muslims' and 'God' did it. (See the link below for his previous interview on the subject). Reuters report on Bin Laden speech : "DUBAI (Reuters) - The world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, issued a dramatic videotaped statement on Sunday praising the September 11 suicide-hijackers and said America would not live in peace until Palestinians could do the same. Bin Laden, calling President Bush the "head of the infidels," expressed support for the attack on targets in New York and Washington that killed about 6,000 people. "America has been filled with horror from north to south and east to west, and thanks be to God what America is tasting now is only a copy of what we have tasted," bin Laden said in his first verified statement since the attacks. Reuters report on Bin Laden speech "Our Islamic nation has been tasting the same for more 80 years," he said in a statement transmitted just two hours after the United States and Britain began bombing Afghanistan. His statement to Qatar's al-Jazeera television, filmed against a rocky background with an assault rifle at his side, did not claim responsibility for the September 11 attacks. He has previously issued statements through associates denying he was behind them. "

Pakistani newspaper prints interview with bin Laden : "The Al-Qa'idah group had nothing to do with the 11 September attacks on the USA, according to Usamah Bin-Ladin in an interview with the Pakistani paper Ummat. Usamah Bin-Ladin went on to suggest that Jews or US secret services were behind the attacks, and to express gratitude and support for Pakistan, urging Pakistan's people to jihad against the West. The following is the text of an interview conducted by a "special correspondent", published Pakistani newspaper Ummat on 28 September, place and date of interview not given. The first paragraph is Ummat's introduction." In regards to his statement on the 7th of October which reporters are calling 'a confession' what I heard him say is that 'those muslims' and 'God' did it...