[WIRED]
“Washington’s allies were quick to welcome the latest videotape of Osama bin Laden as final proof of his guilt Thursday, but Arabs were divided and some dismissed the footage as a propaganda fake.”
“”Do the Americans really think the world is that stupid to think that they would believe that this tape is evidence?”” said Abdul Latif Arabiat, head of Jordan’s mainstream Islamist party the Islamic Action Front.
“In a region where many choose to believe theories that the September 11 attacks were a plot by Israeli secret services to discredit Muslims, some ordinary Arabs were also skeptical.”
“The videotape showing bin Laden and others talking informally was released by the Pentagon with an official translation of its muffled dialogue.”
“The translation quotes bin Laden as saying he had been more optimistic than his colleagues about how much damage the September 11 attacks would inflict, but had not dared hope the World Trade Center would be brought down completely.”
“There was no immediate reaction to the tape from most Arab governments. But the United Arab Emirates, a U.S. ally, was quick to accept it as conclusive evidence.”
“Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, called the tape “unequivocally incriminating evidence about the involvement of al Qaeda in terrorism.””
“Palestinian officials, locked in a rapidly escalating conflict with Israel which accuses them of complicity in terrorism, had no immediate comment on the tape.”
British “Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called it “conclusive evidence of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda’s role in the September 11 terrorist attacks.””
“”This totally vindicates the action that we, the U.S. and the international coalition have taken in Afghanistan,” he added.”
Read more: Arabs: Osama Video a ‘Fake’ (archived)
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