No Intention to Omit Bin Laden Tape Details, White House Says

The Bush administration said Friday it did not deliberately omit details in its translation of a videotaped conversation between Osama bin Laden and several allies.

New translations of the tape that was released last week reveal that Bin Laden speaks the names of several Sept. 11 terrorists.

“There was every attempt to give you the best translation we could in a relatively limited amount of time,” Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said at a news briefing.

The White House echoed that sentiment, saying there was no intention to leave details out.

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said administration officials had encouraged the media to seek independent translations. Any detail arising from those independent translations, Fleischer said, “doesn’t change anything for the president.”

On Wednesday, one of the government’s hired translators delivered a new translation of the tape to the Pentagon that details Bin Laden speaking fondly of several of the hijackers.

Bin Laden asks God to “accept their action,” according to translator George Michael.

Michael would identify only three suspected hijackers mentioned on the tape: Nawaf Alhazmi, Salem Alhazmi and Wail M. Alshehri.

Ali al-Ahmed, a Saudi who translated the tape, said Bin Laden also mentions the name Alghamdi several times in reference to suspected hijackers Ahmed Alghamdi, Hamza Alghamdi and Saeed Alghamdi.

Federal investigators believe all of the men were aboard the four doomed planes that crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in rural Pennsylvania.

The Pentagon released the first transcript last week, offering a glimpse of terrorist planning as Bin Laden told his aides and clerics that the deaths and destruction achieved by the attacks exceeded his “most optimistic” expectations.

Al-Ahmed’s translation also reveals other omissions. It shows that Bin Laden’s guests delight in the support that several prominent Saudi clerics are giving to terrorists.

Any connection between Bin Laden and a Saudi official would probably embarrass the Saudi government, which has given its support to the United States.