US neglects to include Saudi responsibility in 'translation' of OBL tape

[Khoder bin Hakkin]

A new ABCNEWS translation of the Osama bin Laden videotape released last
week reveals information that may be
embarrassing to Saudi Arabia, a very important U.S. ally.  Bin Laden Hunt
Strains U.S-Saudi Relations  Excerpts of
the Bin Laden Video Weigh In  Poll: Americans Believe Toughest Battles Ahead

                    When the videotape of Osama bin Laden talking about the
Sept. 11 terror attacks was
                    released by the United States government on Dec. 13,
administration officials spoke at length
                    about the extensive effort to achieve a full and
accurate transcript. 

                    The translation commissioned by ABCNEWS, however,
reveals new elements that raise
                    questions about what the government left out of the
official version and why. 

                    The new translation uncovers statements that could be
embarrassing to the government of
                    Saudi Arabia, a very important U.S. ally. Bin Laden's
visitor, Khalid al Harbi, a Saudi
                    dissident, claims that he was smuggled into Afghanistan
by a member of Saudi Arabia's
                    religious police. 

                    He also tells bin Laden that in Saudi Arabia, several
prominent clerics  some with
                    connections to the Saudi government  made speeches
supporting the attacks on America. 

                    "Right at the time of the strike on America, he gave a
very moving speech, Sheikh Abdulah al
                    Baraak," bin Laden said on the tape. "And he deserves
thanks for that."

Sheikh al Baraak, to whom the visitor refers, is a professor at a
government university and a member of an influential
council on religious law.

"It shows that bin Laden's support is not limited to the radical side of
Islam but also among the Saudi religious
establishment," says Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern studies at
Sarah Lawrence College. "And that is
bad news for Saudi Arabia."

.....
US protecting foreign tyrants, but hey, gas is cheap,
and it only cost a spook, a marine's foot, a few thou newyorkers (and some
of them were traders ferchrissakes, like NYPD corpses they're divine
payback) and look at how the flag industry stimulated the economy and
enhanced trade with WTO-China Inc
another great bunch of freedom loving folks