from NY's daily news...
Hijack plot bared
on Al Qaeda video
By HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Hijacker reads message critical of U.S. policies.
Hijacker reviews flight manuals and maps.
Flight manuals and maps shown in video.
WASHINGTON - Al Qaeda has produced its own grotesque Sept. 11 commemorative video, a film narrated by Osama Bin Laden showing the hijackers plotting what they called "Holy Tuesday."
In excerpts of the video aired on Al Jazeera TV in Qatar, snapshots of the 19 hijackers' faces appear superimposed on a landscape of clouds and mountains.
Bin Laden does not appear on the tape, but his voice is heard praising the hijackers for "the conquests of Washington and New York."
But the tape does not clear up the mystery of whether Bin Laden is dead or alive. It could have been made anytime after Sept. 11, and experts said the fact that Bin Laden isn't shown bolsters the theory that he is dead or gravely wounded.
Bin Laden has not been seen since a December video of him squatting in a field.
An Al Jazeera reporter who recently interviewed top Bin Laden aides Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed said they insisted their boss was alive but at one point referred to him in the past tense.
In that interview, Mohammed and Binalshibh said they began plotting the Sept. 11 attack in early 1999.
The terrorists said they sent four surveillance teams to the United States to scout targets before hijacker leader Mohamed Atta and his 18 henchmen arrived in mid-2000.
Binalshibh, who wanted to be the 20th hijacker but was refused entry to the U.S., proudly carries a suitcase of planning "souvenirs" with him on the lam - including flying manuals, airline guides and illustrations of "how to perform sudden maneuvers."
He said he has written a 112-page justification of the attacks that he wants entered in the Library of Congress. He said he hopes the attacks will be the "beginning of the end of America."...
Hijack plot bared
on Al Qaeda video
By HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Hijacker reads message critical of U.S. policies.
Hijacker reviews flight manuals and maps.
Flight manuals and maps shown in video.
WASHINGTON - Al Qaeda has produced its own grotesque Sept. 11 commemorative video, a film narrated by Osama Bin Laden showing the hijackers plotting what they called "Holy Tuesday."
In excerpts of the video aired on Al Jazeera TV in Qatar, snapshots of the 19 hijackers' faces appear superimposed on a landscape of clouds and mountains.
Bin Laden does not appear on the tape, but his voice is heard praising the hijackers for "the conquests of Washington and New York."
But the tape does not clear up the mystery of whether Bin Laden is dead or alive. It could have been made anytime after Sept. 11, and experts said the fact that Bin Laden isn't shown bolsters the theory that he is dead or gravely wounded.
Bin Laden has not been seen since a December video of him squatting in a field.
An Al Jazeera reporter who recently interviewed top Bin Laden aides Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed said they insisted their boss was alive but at one point referred to him in the past tense.
In that interview, Mohammed and Binalshibh said they began plotting the Sept. 11 attack in early 1999.
The terrorists said they sent four surveillance teams to the United States to scout targets before hijacker leader Mohamed Atta and his 18 henchmen arrived in mid-2000.
Binalshibh, who wanted to be the 20th hijacker but was refused entry to the U.S., proudly carries a suitcase of planning "souvenirs" with him on the lam - including flying manuals, airline guides and illustrations of "how to perform sudden maneuvers."
He said he has written a 112-page justification of the attacks that he wants entered in the Library of Congress. He said he hopes the attacks will be the "beginning of the end of America."...