| The Saudi cleric visiting Osama bin Laden in the Pentagon video was named as Sheikh al Ghamdi. Al Ghamdi is a militant cleric from a tribe of the Assir province. Several of the September 11 suicide hijackers were members of his tribe. In the video, al Ghamdi brings news of other clerics, Sheikh al Bahrani and Sheikh Sulayman al 'Uman. He describes how al Bahrani gave a sermon in his mosque at the same time as the suicide attacks. His speech was videotaped in order to be taken to bin Laden at a later date. Al Ghamdi tells bin Laden that the cleric sends him his "special regards". After his September 11 sermon he was arrested by the Saudis and interrogated, according to the video conversation. Al 'Uman is also mentioned by al Ghamdi for issuing a fatwa on the Quran radio station. In it he says the people who died in America were not innocent. If I were in the intel business, I'd be hopping right now to trace everyone connected however remotely with those "clerics." Are they allies of bin Laden? Supporters? Or controllers? BTW, Mark Steyn has his usual low-key assessment of the video here. |