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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

The bin Laden Tape

Aired December 13, 2001 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is a CNN special report. The bin Laden tape: Tonight, you'll see Osama bin Laden, unfiltered, bragging, laughing and revealing his own knowledge of the September 11 attacks.

Is this the smoking gun that ties Osama bin Laden to the attacks once and for all? Now live from Washington, the bin laden tape in its entirety, anchored by CNN's Wolf Blitzer, with terrorism analyst Peter Bergen.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening. Over the next hour, we'll be showing you the latest videotape of Osama bin Laden to surface. Those who have seen it use words like "chilling," "evil" and "hard evidence" to describe bin Laden and what he says. Tonight you can draw your own conclusions.

The videotape was found in a house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and was obtained by U.S. forces. It shows a meeting between bin Laden and some supporters that took place on or about November 9.

After much internal debate, the tape was finally released this morning by the Bush Administration, which provided the translation. In the end, it was decided that releasing it might help dispel any doubt that remained, especially in the Arab and Muslim world, that Osama bin Laden is indeed responsible for the terror attacks of September 11.

Peter Bergen is familiar to many of our viewers. He's CNN Terrorism Analyst, and he's interviewed Osama bin Laden himself. He's also the author of the new bestseller "Holy War Incorporated." Peter will be offering his insight into what we'll be seeing tonight.

We will show you the tape completely in its chronological order as the events actually took place. In the first part, Osama bin Laden enters the room as you will see. He greets his guests and at least one of whom is a Saudi Arabian. Let's begin to roll that videotape right now. And as we do, I want to bring in our Jamie McIntyre.

Jamie, we see Osama bin Laden walking into this room with his guests from Saudi Arabia. But you have some breaking news about Osama bin Laden. What's happening right now in the search for him?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well you know, Wolf, there's a lot of conflicting intelligence reports about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, and Pentagon officials are the first to admit they don't know for sure where he is.

But tonight, a senior military official has told CNN that the best evidence the United States has is that bin Laden is in a cave complex in the Tora Bora area where, that is effectively surrounded by opposition fighters and U.S. Special Forces.

Now this official admitted that it's entirely possible bin Laden could slip out or they could discover at the end of the battle that he's not really inside.

But right now, all the evidence points to the fact that he is surrounded in this cave complex of unspecified size in the Tora Bora area. And, of course, that's what the Pentagon has been saying consistently for days, that they believe bin Laden is in Afghanistan, that they believe he's in this Tora Bora area. Only time will tell. The battle is still going on there.

As for Omar, they believe that he's also in Afghanistan, slightly to the west of Kandahar in the Helmand province -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jamie McIntyre, thank you very much. And Peter Bergen, I want to bring you in. Tell us what our viewers, tell our viewers what we're seeing right now before they start actually to speak.

Osama bin Laden is with whom?

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, he's with his No. 2, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who we saw briefly at the beginning of the tape with his spokesman, Abu Rate (ph), and with an unidentified Sheik who's Saudi, perhaps from Mecca, according to somebody whose seen the tape.

So it's these four individuals, although we don't hear much of anything from Ayman Al-Zawahiri. We hear a great deal from bin Laden, the Sheik and also the spokesman Abu Rate (ph).

BLITZER: And Ayman Al-Zawahiri is on the left-hand side of the screen and his visitor, the Sheik from Saudi Arabia, is to the right. Obviously, as this tape will begin, we will see that he's very sensitive to his image, to his reaction, what's happening in Saudi Arabia.

BERGEN: Yes, he wanted the man from Saudi Arabia, the Sheik, he's kind of giving him the news about how people in Saudi Arabia are reacting to the events of September 11.

BLITZER: All right. Let's watch the translation now. It's in English at the bottom of the screen. This is translation provided by the U.S. government, and as the translation begins, we'll hear Osama bin Laden ask the Sheik for his reaction to what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHAYKH: (...inaudible...) You have given us weapons, you have given us hope and we thank Allah for you. We don't want to take much of your time, but this is the arrangement of the brothers. People now are supporting us more, even those ones who did not support us in the past, support us more now. I did not want to take that much of your time. We praise Allah, we praise Allah. We came from Kabul. We were very pleased to visit. May Allah bless you both at home and the camp. We asked the driver to take us, it was a night with a full moon, thanks be to Allah. Believe me it is not in the country side. The elderly...everybody praises what you did, the great action you did, which was first and foremost by the grace of Allah. This is the guidance of Allah and the blessed fruit of jihad.

BIN LADEN: Thanks to Allah. What is the stand of the Mosques there (in Saudi Arabia)?

SHAYKH: Honestly, they are very positive. Shaykh Al-Bahrani (ph) gave a good sermon in his class after the sunset prayers. It was videotaped and I was supposed to carry it with me, but unfortunately, I had to leave immediately.

BIN LADEN: The day of the events?

SHAYKH: At the exact time of the attack on America, precisely at the time. He (Bahrani) gave a very impressive sermon. Thanks be to Allah for his blessings. He (Bahrani) was the first one to write at war time. I visited him twice in Al-Qasim.

BIN LADEN: Thanks be to Allah.

SHAYKH: This is what I asked from Allah. He (Bahrani) told the youth: "You are asking for martyrdom and wonder where you should go (for martyrdom)?" Allah was inciting them to go. I asked Allah to grant me to witness the truth in front of the unjust ruler. We ask Allah to protect him and give him the martyrdom, after he issued the first fatwa. He was detained for interrogation, as you know. When he was called in and asked to sign, he told them, "don't waste my time, I have another fatwa. If you want me, I can sign both at the same time."

BIN LADEN: Thanks be to Allah.

SHAYKH: His position is really very encouraging. When I paid him the first visit about a year and half ago, he asked me, "How is Shaykh Bin-Ladin?" He sends you his special regards. As far as Shaykh Sulayman 'Ulwan is concerned, he gave a beautiful fatwa, may Allah bless him. Miraculously, I heard it on the Quran radio station. It was strange because he ('Ulwan) sacrificed his position, which is equivalent to a director. It was transcribed word-by-word. The brothers listened to it in detail. I briefly heard it before the noon prayers. He ('Ulwan) said this was jihad and those people were not innocent people (World Trade Center and Pentagon victims). He swore to Allah. This was transmitted to Shaykh Sulayman Al (('Umar)) Allah bless him.

BIN LADEN: What about Shaykh Al-((Rayan))?

SHAYKH: Honestly, I did not meet with him. My movements were truly limited.

BIN LADEN: Allah bless you. You are welcome.

SHAYKH: (Describing the trip to the meeting) They smuggled us and then I thought that we would be in different caves inside the mountains so I was surprised at the guest house and that it is very clean and comfortable. Thanks be to Allah, we also learned that this location is safe, by Allah's blessings. The place is clean and we are very comfortable.

BIN LADEN: (...Inaudible...) when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse. This is only one goal; those who want people to worship the lord of the people, without following that doctrine, will be following the doctrine of Muhammad, peace be upon him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Up next, startling words from Osama bin Laden. How he spun the events of September 11th as a way to draw converts to Islam. Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Frightening and shocking to sit there and listen to him quote the name of an Almighty to defend murder, to defend evil. That goes against ever faith on the face of the earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. For much of the world, September 11th will forever be associated with horror and death. For Osama bin Laden, it seems to be a day of glory and a showcase for his brand of Islam.

"Hundreds of people are coming out to join you" a lieutenant tells him, in this next segment of the tape.

BIN LADEN: (Quotes several short and incomplete Hadith verses as follows:)

"I was ordered to fight the people until they say there is no god but Allah, and his prophet Muhammad. Some people may ask: why do you want to fight us?" "There is an association between those who say: I believe in one god and Muhammad is his prophet, and those who don't (...inaudible...) "Those who do not follow the true fiqh. The fiqh of Muhammad, the real fiqh. They are just accepting what is being said at face value."

Those youth who conducted the operations did not accept any fiqh in the popular terms, but they accepted the fiqh that the prophet Muhammad brought. Those young men (...inaudible...) said in deeds, in New York and Washington, speeches that overshadowed all other speeches made everywhere else in the world. The speeches are understood by both Arabs and non-Arabs-even by Chinese. It is above all the media said. Some of them said that in Holland, at one of the centers, the number of people who accepted Islam during the days that followed the operations were more than the people who accepted Islam in the last eleven years. I heard someone on Islamic radio who owns a school in America say: "We don't have time to keep up with the demands of those who are asking about Islamic books to learn about Islam." This event made people think (about true Islam) which benefited Islam greatly.

SHAYKH: Hundreds of people used to doubt you and few only would follow you until this huge event happened. Now hundreds of people are coming out to join you. I remember a vision by Shaykh Salih Al- ((Shuaybi)). He said: "There will be a great hit and people will go out by hundreds to Afghanistan." I asked him (Salih): "To Afghanistan?" He replied, "Yes." According to him, the only ones who stay behind will be the mentally impotent and the liars (hypocrites). I remembered his saying that hundreds of people will go out to Afghanistan. He had this vision a year ago. This event discriminated between the different types of followers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Coming up, a particularly chilling moment in the tape, as the destruction goes beyond Osama bin Laden's wildest hopes. What he thought would actually happen when the hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center, and what he was doing when the Towers collapsed. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Before we watch more of the bin Laden videotape, I want to update you on a developing story we've been reporting now.

A senior U.S. official tells CNN tonight, the United States believes Osama bin Laden is effectively surrounded in a cave complex in the Tora Bora region in eastern Afghanistan. We're monitoring this story. We will have complete details, of course, through the rest of tonight.

But now, back to the videotape. This next part could be the most revealing. Bin Laden talks about how the number of casualties at the World Trade Center had been calculated in advance. Also, for the first time, he admits having had advance knowledge about the attacks, and interestingly like so many people around the world, Osama bin Laden remembers exactly where he was when he first learned that the first plane had hit the first tower.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIN LADEN: (...inaudible...) we calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy, who would be killed based on the position of the tower. We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors. I was the most optimistic of them all. (...Inaudible...) due to my experience in this field, I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of the building and collapse the area where the plane hit and all the floors above it only. This is all that we had hoped for.

SHAYKH: Allah be praised.

BIN LADEN: We were at (...inaudible...) when the event took place. We had notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place that day. We had finished our work that day and had the radio on. It was 5:30 p.m. our time. I was sitting with Dr. Ahmad Abu-al-((Khair)). Immediately, we heard the news that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We turned the radio station to the news from Washington. The news continued and no mention of the attack until the end. At the end of the newscast, they reported that a plane just hit the World Trade Center.

SHAYKH: Allah be praised.

BIN LADEN: After a little while, they announced that another plane had hit the World Trade Center. The brothers who heard the news were overjoyed by it.

SHAYKH: I listened to the news and I was sitting. We didn't...we were not thinking about anything, and all of a sudden, Allah willing, we were talking about how come we didn't have anything, and all of a sudden the news came and everyone was overjoyed and everyone until the next day, in the morning, was talking about what was happening and we stayed until four o'clock, listening to the news every time a little bit different, everyone was very joyous and saying "Allah is great," "Allah is great," "We are thankful to Allah," "Praise Allah." And I was happy for the happiness of my brothers. That day the congratulations were coming on the phone non-stop. The mother was receiving phone calls continuously. Thank Allah. Allah is great, praise be to Allah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: We'll get back to the videotape in just a moment, but I want to bring back Peter Bergen. You met Osama bin Laden almost five years ago. Has he changed over these years.

BERGEN: He seems the same. I mean, he's older in this videotape obviously. His beard is whitened, but you know, when we talked to him in '97, he had sort of a low-key presence. I mean, not raising his voice. The difference with this video, as we see later, is he's kind of the lighthearted side as it were bin Laden, which he certainly didn't reveal in our interview. But no substantial changes.

BLITZER: And when he talks about his field of experience and remind our viewers what he's referring to in anticipating the destruction at the World Trade Center.

BERGEN: Well, you know, bin Laden's family owns one of the largest construction businesses in the Middle East, and bin Laden himself worked for that construction company. So when he talks about my experience in this field, about his projections of what happened to the Trade Center, it's based on some knowledge. I mean, he's somebody who understands buildings. His family's been involved in building buildings. He unfortunately has spent his life destroying them. BLITZER: Okay stand by, Peter. We'll be back to you. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, Osama bin Laden's guest envisions that the terror attacks will spark a new golden age for Islam. That plus congratulations to bin Laden when we come back. Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This man is evil. He needs to be taken care of.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's sickening. Having seen the destruction down in the World Trade Center area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's the epitome of evil. I want to see him dead actually.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR: Welcome back. "Allah be praised" is repeated throughout the Bin Laden tape. Indeed, Bin Laden's confidante appears to view the September 11 attacks as a religious victory that will make Islam stronger and spell doom for the, quote, "the wicked people." Here's more from the Bin Laden tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

(Quoting the verse from the Koran)

"Fight them, Allah will torture them, with your hands, he will torture them. He will deceive them and he will give you victory. Allah will forgive the believers, he is knowledgeable about everything."

No doubt it is a clear victory. Allah has bestowed on us...honor on us...and he will give us blessing and more victory during this holy month of Ramadan. And this is what everyone is hoping for. Thank Allah America came out of its caves. We hit her the first hit and the next one will hit her with the hands of the believers, the good believers, the strong believers. By Allah it is a great work. Allah prepares for you a great reward for this work. I'm sorry to speak in your presence, but it is just thoughts, just thoughts. By Allah, who there is no god but him. I live in happiness, happiness...I have not experienced, or felt, in a long time.

I remember, the words of Al-Rabbani, he said they made a coalition against us in the winter with the infidels like the Turks, and others, and some other Arabs. And they surrounded us like the days...in the days of the prophet Muhammad. Exactly like what's happening right now. But he comforted his followers and said, "This is going to turn and hit them back." And it is a mercy for us. And a blessing to us. And it will bring people back. Look how wise he was.

And Allah will give him blessing. And the day will come when the symbols of Islam will rise up and it will be similar to the early days of Al-Mujahedeen and Al-Ansar (similar to the early years of Islam). And victory to those who follow Allah. Finally said, if it is the same, like the old days, such as Abu Bakr and Othman and Ali and others. In these days, in our times, that it will be the greatest jihad in the history of Islam and the resistance of the wicked people.

By Allah my Shaykh. We congratulate you for the great work. Thank Allah.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BLITZER: Still to come, Osama Bin Laden talks talks about the meticulously planned martyrdom operation. Why the quest to assure massive terror on U.S. soil meant keeping even some of the hijackers in the dark. First, here is some more reaction to the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR RICHARD SHELBY, (R) ALABAMA: It also shows the cold cynicism of the character of Osama Bin Laden, even in dealing with his own people. I believe that if you look at the tape and you see -- watch the gestures, you're going to see a damnable evidence against Osama Bin Laden, beyond any reasonable doubt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. You're about to hear Osama Bin Laden talk about the secretiveness of the terror plot, which he says was so thorough that even some of the hijackers themselves did not know what was in store for them.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BIN LADEN: Abdallah Azzam, Allah bless his soul, told me not to record anything (...inaudible...) so I thought that was a good omen, and Allah will bless us (...inaudible...). Abu-Al-Hasan Al-((Masri)), who appeared on Al-Jazeera TV a couple of days ago and addressed the Americans saying: "If you are true men, come down here and face us."

(...inaudible...) He told me a year ago: "I saw in a dream, we were playing a soccer game against the Americans. When our team showed up in the field, they were all pilots!" He said: "So I wondered if that was a soccer game or a pilot game? Our players were pilots." He (Abu-Al-Hasan) didn't know anything about the operation until he heard it on the radio. He said the game went on and we defeated them. That was a good omen for us.

SHAYKH: May Allah be blessed.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN OFF CAMERA: Abd Al Rahman Al-(Ghamri) said he saw a vision, before the operation, a plane crashed into a tall building. He knew nothing about it.

SHAYKH: May Allah be blessed!

SULAYMAN ((ABU GUAITH)): I was sitting with the Shaykh in a room, then I left to go to another room where there was a TV set. The TV broadcasted the big event. The scene was showing an Egyptian family sitting in their living room, they exploded with joy. Do you know when there is a soccer game and your team wins, it was the same expression of joy. There was a subtitle that read: "In revenge for the children of Al Aqsa', Usama Bin Ladin executes an operation against America." So I went back to the Shaykh (meaning Usama Bin Laden) who was sitting in a room with 50 to 60 people. I tried to tell him about what I saw, but he made gesture with his hands, meaning: "I know, I know..."

BIN LADEN: He did not know about the operation. Not everybody knew (...inaudible...). Muhammad ((Atta)) from the Egyptian family (meaning the Al Qa'ida Egyptian group), was in charge of the group.

SHAYKH: A plane crashing into a tall building was out of anyone's imagination. This was a great job. He was one of the pious men in the organization. He became a martyr. Allah bless his soul.

(Referring to dreams and visions): The plane that he saw crashing into the building was seen before by more than one person. One of the good religious people has left everything and come here. He told me, "I saw a vision, I was in a huge plane, long and wide. I was carrying it on my shoulders and I walked from the road to the desert for half a kilometer. I was dragging the plane." I listened to him and I prayed to Allah to help him.

Another person told me that last year he saw, but I didn't understand and I told him I don't understand. He said, "I saw people who left for jihad...and they found themselves in New York...in Washington and New York." I said, "What is this?" He told me the plane hit the building. That was last year. We haven't thought much about it. But, when the incidents happened he came to me and said, "Did you see...this is strange."

I have another man...my god...he said and swore by Allah that his wife had seen the incident a week earlier. She saw the plane crashing into a building...that was unbelievable, my god.

BIN LADEN: The brothers, who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation and we asked each of them to go to America but they didn't know anything about the operation, not even one letter. But they were trained and we did not reveal the operation to them until they are there and just before they boarded the planes.

(...inaudible...) then he said: Those who were trained to fly didn't know the others. One group of people did not know the other group. (...inaudible...)

(Someone in the crowd asks Usama Bin Laden to tell the Shaykh about the dream of ((Abu-Da'ud)) We were at a camp of one of the brother's guards in Qandahar. This brother belonged to the majority of the group. He came close and told me that he saw, in a dream, a tall building in America, and in the same dream he saw Mukhtar teaching them how to play karate.

At that point, I was worried that maybe the secret would be revealed if everyone starts seeing it in their dream. So I closed the subject. I told him if he sees another dream, not to tell anybody, because people will be upset with him.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, Peter. He does refer to "Mohamed" at one point, referring presumably to Mohamed Atta. Says, "from the Egyptian family who was in charge of the group." But then he goes on to say that the brothers who conducted the operation -- the martyrdom operation -- they didn't know anything about the operation, in his words, not even one letter. Pretty good compartmentalization.

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Yeah. We know from trial testimony that the -- the cells of the groups usually were divided into people who knew the planning side, people who did the surveillance, and were divided -- you were on a need-to-know basis.

So these people who got on the plane to hijack the planes didn't need to be know that they were going to be in this martyrdom operation until it happened. And in fact, in the video Bin Laden says that his own spokesman, who is at his right, didn't know that this thing was going to happen. So it was obviously a very tightly-held secret.

BLITZER: All right. Peter, stand by. I want to get more into the tape. We will get some more analysis as well. But up next, a staggering revelation from Bin Laden details of his advance knowledge of the attacks and the final portion of the Bin Laden videotape when we come back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: How could there be a doubt in anyone's mind any longer about what we have said from the very, very beginning? That he was the mastermind, he is the head of an organization that participates in this kind of evil activity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. The worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil in history seems to be a subject for delight for Osama Bin Laden and his associates, as seen in the next segment of this tape. It also features Bin Laden recounting details of the attack and revealing his knowledge about what was still to come.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BIN LADEN: They were overjoyed when the first plane hit the building, so I said to them: be patient. The difference between the first and the second plane hitting the towers was twenty minutes. And the difference between the first plane and the plane that hit the Pentagon was one hour.

SHAYKH: They (the Americans) were terrified thinking there was a coup.

[Note: Ayman Al-Zawahri says first he commended Osama Bin Laden's awareness of what the media is saying. Then he says it was the first time for them (Americans) to feel danger coming at them.]

Usama Bin Laden (reciting a poem):

I witness that against the sharp blade, they always faced difficulties and stood together. When the darkness comes upon us and we are bit by a sharp tooth, I say, "Our homes are flooded with blood and the tyrant is freely wandering in our homes." And from the battlefield vanished the brightness of swords and the horses. And over weeping sounds now we hear the beats of drums and rhythm. They are storming his forts and shouting: "We will not stop our raids until you free our lands."

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BLITZER: And there you have it, Peter Bergen. As we've been watching this videotape, our Jamie McIntyre over at the Pentagon has been reporting, as you know, that Osama Bin Laden -- according to U.S. officials -- is effectively surrounded in the Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan.

Is he ready -- based on everything you know about him, and you spent a lot of time studying him -- is he ready to become a, quote, "martyr?"

BERGEN: I believe that he is ready to martyr himself. On the other hand, we all want to go to heaven, but do we want to go to heaven today? Maybe he'll have a change of mind.

You know, Tora Bora is very near that part of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of Pakistan that just sticks like a parrot's beak into Afghanistan. It would be an easy way -- place to slip away. But in my view he's decided to die. But of course you can always change your mind about that when it actually comes to it.

BLITZER: There's been also details that he's instructed some -- some sons of his to kill him if it gets close to the point where he would captured. Do you believe any of that?

BERGEN: I don't know. It's hard to tell if he is. But I mean, actually committing suicide is a sin against Islam, and I'm sure he would want to martyr himself, have somebody else kill him rather than actually inflicting the final blow himself.

BLITZER: The -- one of the most frightening moments in this videotape was not something that Osama Bin Laden said but was something the Saudi Shaykh said, when he said to him at one point that -- referring to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is still underway, about to end this weekend -- he says, "he will give us blessing" -- referring to Allah -- "and more victory during this holy month of Ramadan. And this is what everyone is hoping for," referring presumably to more terrorist attacks against the United States.

BERGEN: Well, obviously this is somebody who knows Osama Bin Laden fairly well. And it's a -- rather worrisome that he's referring to these Ramadan plans. We've heard from John Walker, the American Taliban, that there was campfire talk about possible attacks in Ramadan.

They have tried to attack -- this group has tried to attack in past towards the end of Ramadan. So I think it fits a pattern that there is a possibility that there might be attacks in the pipeline. Of course, whether they'll come off is another thing.

BLITZER: And very briefly, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Porter Goss, told me he thought Osama Bin Laden wanted this videotaped -- this meeting videotaped so it could be used for recruiting future members of al Qaeda. You -- you accept that?

BERGEN: Well, I mean, it's an interesting idea. I -- I think that it -- it may not be. Let me tell you why. The quality of that videotape was so poor. A lot -- most of the other videotapes that we've seen of Bin Laden the audio has been good, the video has been good. This, I think, was very much a casual thing which I don't believe was intended for wider distribution.

On the other hand, perhaps Bin Laden is -- is sufficiently egotistical to believe that this somehow would help his cause, but I don't think it helps his cause in any way, obviously.

BLITZER: OK. Peter Bergen, thank you very much for your analysis. Good work. And that's unfortunately all the time we have tonight.

Please join me again tomorrow twice, at both 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. eastern. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LIVE FROM AFGHANISTAN WITH CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR" begins right now.

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