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Top Al Qaeda Spokesman Spoke Warmly of Those Who "Exploded With Joy" Over 9/11 as Though It Were a "Soccer Game"

Excerpts from transcript of videotape discovered in Jalalabad in Afghanistan in fall, 2001. Slaiman Abou-Ghaith was one of al Qaeda's primary spokesmen:

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BIN LADEN: Those young men [inaudible] said in deeds, in New York and Washington -- speeches that overshadowed all other speeches made everywhere else in the world...

SLAIMAN ABOU-GHAITH: I was sitting with the sheik 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.

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OSAMA BIN LADEN: 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. (He quotes several short and incomplete Hadith verses):

''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 [law] -- 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 11 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.'' . . .

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.

SHEIK: 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.

SHEIK: May Allah be blessed!

SLAIMAN ABOU-GHAITH: I was sitting with the sheik 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, Osama bin Laden executes an operation against America.'' So I went back to the sheik (meaning Osama 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] Mohamed (Atta) from the Egyptian family (meaning the Egyptian Al Qaeda group), was in charge of the group.

SHEIK: 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 Mr. bin Laden to tell the sheik about the dream of Abu Daud.)

BIN LADEN: We were at a camp of one of the brother's guards in Kandahar. 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.

(Another person's voice can be heard recounting his dream about two planes hitting a big building.)

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 20 minutes. And the difference between the first plane and the plane that hit the Pentagon was one hour.

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

(The next segment of the videotape records an earlier part of Mr. bin Laden's visit with the sheik.)

SHEIK: 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 Sheik Salih al-(Shuaybi). He said: ''There will be a great hit and people will go out by hundreds to Afghanistan.'' I asked him: ''To Afghanistan?'' He replied, ''Yes.''

According to him, the only ones who stay behind will be the mentally impotent and the liars. 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.

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.

SHEIK: 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 (there was) 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.

SHEIK: 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.

SHEIK: 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 4 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 nonstop. The mother was receiving phone calls continuously. Thank Allah. Allah is great, praise be to Allah.

(Quoting a 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.