Al-Jazeera Airs Pre-9/11 Bin Laden Tape
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CAIRO, Egypt (AP) – Al-Jazeera broadcast Thursday what it called a previously unshown video in which Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is seen meeting with some of the Sept. 11 hijackers.
The station did not say how it obtained the video, which was produced by As-Sahab, Al Qaeda’s media branch.
The video showed Osama bin Laden sitting with his former lieutenant Mohammed Atef and Ramzi Binalshibh, another suspected planner of the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijackings.
Atef, also known as Abu Hafs al-Masri, was killed by an American airstrike in Afghanistan in 2001. Binalshibh was captured four years ago in Pakistan and is in U.S. custody, and this week President Bush announced plans to put him on military trial.
In the video, Osama bin Laden was wearing a dark robe and white headgear walking in a mountainous area. He smiled as he greeted several men, which the tape said were Sept. 11 hijackers.
