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http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/12/16/wvid16.xml&;
sSheet=/news/2001/12/16/ixhome.html
How the CIA checked out Osama's tape
By David Wastell
(Filed: 16/12/2001)
THE Central Intelligence Agency spent two weeks checking for hidden messages
in the videotape of Osama bin Laden boasting about the death and destruction
he had caused before agreeing that it could safely be released, The
Telegraph has learned.
American officials feared that the captured tape, finally released last
week, might have been planted by bin Laden supporters and could contain a
secret signal to al-Qaeda operatives which would trigger a new terrorist
attack.
Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, was also concerned that releasing
the tape might jeopardise the chain of connections that brought it into
American hands.
Scientists working for the CIA conducted rigorous analysis to confirm that
the voice patterns, mannerisms and physical appearance of bin Laden matched
those of the terrorist leader in previous interviews and statements.
One Washington official said: "We had to satisfy ourselves that there was
nothing on the tape that called its authenticity into question."
Although few Americans who watched the tape doubted that it was genuine,
many in the Middle East remained unconvinced yesterday. The Bush
administration is sending copies, without the English subtitles added by
translators, to Arab governments so that they can hear it for themselves.
Parts of the tape were described as inaudible in the subtitled version, and
other parts which were transcribed were difficult to hear, even for a native
Arabic speaker.
George Michael, an Egyptian-born translator and one of three linguists
brought in by the Pentagon to check the administration's first translation,
said: "The sound on the original tape was poor, and it was hard to hear in
certain places, but it was much better quality than hearing it broadcast on
television."
American officials say the tape was found in a house in Jalalabad, the
eastern city prised from Taliban control on November 15.
Administration officials said that the tape was "acquired" in late November
and brought to the attention of American officials, but they refused to say
who had found it.
It is likely, however, that it was discovered either by soldiers of the
Northern Alliance or by a paid informer. The tape was almost certainly
handed over in exchange for what one official termed a "gratuity".
President Bush was told of the tape's existence on November 29 and shown
extracts during his national security briefing the next morning. He said he
agonised about its public release because of the likely impact on the
families of the 3,300 people killed on September 11.
The CIA, which remains uncertain why the tape was made, feared that the
broadcast might hide coded messages for bin Laden's terrorist network.
Signals may have included which wrist he wore his watch on or where his gun
was placed, officials suspected.
However, intelligence experts concluded that the tape was such poor quality
that it would not have been intended for widespread distribution. They
believe it was probably filmed by an aide to bin Laden, either as an
exercise in vanity or as a tool for recruitment.
The camera imprinted the video with the date 09-11-01, visible on the
original but not on the subtitled version, and officials believe that was
the correct date of the conversation between bin Laden and the fawning Saudi
sheikh who was visiting him.
That means the meeting, believed to be near Kandahar, took place just over a
month after the start of the American bombing campaign inside Afghanistan.
References to the moon and to Ramadan appear to confirm this.
On Monday, after the tape's existence was leaked to the Washington Post, Mr
Bush decided it should be released. The Pentagon called in an independent
translator to confirm the accuracy of the CIA's transcript, but because of
his uncertainties over some segments, further help was enlisted.
On Wednesday, as television stations waited in vain for the tape to be
released, Mr Michael, 43, an American citizen, was asked to go to the
Pentagon for an urgent review of a videotape. "I guessed immediately what it
would be," he said.
He was joined by Kassem Wahba, the co-ordinator of an Arabic language
programme at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies. The two sat in a windowless sound laboratory lined with black foam
plastic and watched and listened to the tape.
It took them 12 hours, playing and replaying the hard-to-hear sections, to
settle on a translation of their own. Where they disagreed, could not hear,
or were in conflict with the two previous versions, they declared the
section "inaudible".
Mr Michael said: "Some of those sections we were fairly confident of but not
quite certain. It was difficult because bin Laden kept looking away at his
visitor. The bits we left out were mostly extended Islamic greetings and
verses from the Koran and did not in any way alter the main points."
Mr Michael was disgusted by what he saw and heard. "I felt sick to my
stomach when he joyfully and humbly thanked Allah for the number who had
died," he said.
In an unexpected twist, the release of the tape may make it harder to
prosecute al-Qaeda suspects, including Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th
hijacker who was arrested in Minnesota in August and indicted on conspiracy
charges last week.
Bin Laden's boast that those taking part in the operation did not know its
precise nature until "just before they boarded the planes" could provide
lawyers for Mr Moussaoui with a ready-made defence. If he was ignorant of
his mission, how could he have "conspired" to commit terrorism?
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