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Interview on Meet the Press
Secretary Colin L. Powell
Washington, DC
September 23, 2001
<snip>QUESTION: Are you absolutely convinced that Usama bin Laden was responsible for this attack?
SECRETARY POWELL: I am absolutely convinced that the al-Qaida network, which he heads, was responsible for this attack. You know, it's sort of al-Qaida -- the Arab name for it is "the base"-- it's something like a holding company of terrorist organizations that are located in dozens of countries around the world, sometimes tightly controlled, sometimes loosely controlled. And at the head of that organization is Usama bin Laden. So what we have to do in the first phase of this campaign is to go after al-Qaida and go after Usama bin Laden. But it is not just a problem in Afghanistan; it's a problem throughout the world. That's why we are attacking it with a worldwide coalition.
QUESTION: Will you release publicly a white paper, which links him and his organization to this attack, to put people at ease?
SECRETARY POWELL: We are hard at work bringing all the information together, intelligence information, law enforcement information. And I think, in the near future, we will be able to put out a paper, a document, that will describe quite clearly the evidence that we have linking him to this attack. And also, remember, he has been linked to earlier attacks against US interests and he was already indicated for earlier attacks against the United States.
QUESTION: Do you believe there is any United States law or executive order, which would prohibit our killing Usama bin Laden, if we find him?
SECRETARY POWELL: An interesting question. There are a number of authorities that are in place, executive orders and the like, that we are examining, to make sure that we have all the freedom of action we need to bring him to justice or to bring justice to him, as the President has said.
White House reneges on proof of bin Laden’s guilt
29 September 2001
<snip>Powell was responding to pressure on the US from governments in the Middle East, as well as some of Washinton’s NATO allies, who are demanding something more than bald assertions that bin Laden and his Afghan protectors are guilty of the terror attacks on New York and Washington before fully committing themselves to support American military strikes. He was also responding to widespread unease and skepticism within the American population toward the government’s claims, as well as its plans for an open-ended war—feelings that persist despite grief and anger over the attacks on September 11, and a relentless media campaign to whip the country into a patriotic frenzy.
The day after Powell’s statement, banner headlines appeared in newspapers across the country announcing the imminent report on bin Laden’s guilt. A front-page article in Monday’s New York Times cited statements by government officials that the evidence “reaches from the southern tip of Manhattan to the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan.”
But by Monday afternoon, the Bush administration was backtracking on making any public presentation of evidence. Ari Fleischer, Bush’s press secretary, said there were no plans to produce a report and that Powell’s remarks had been misinterpreted. Consistent with the media’s shameless promotion of the government’s war drive, by Tuesday virtually all mention of the promised “white paper” had disappeared from the newspapers and TV broadcasts.
At the Monday press conference, Fleischer maintained that the evidence on bin Laden was classified, and releasing it would compromise US intelligence agencies. Even the thoroughly housebroken members of the White House press corps found this explanation hard to swallow. One reporter directly asked the press secretary whether there was “any plan to present public evidence so that the average citizen, not just Americans, but people all over the world can understand the case against bin Laden.”
Fleischer dodged the question, repeating there was no timetable for releasing any evidence. He added cynically: “In a democracy it’s always important to provide the maximum amount of information possible. But I think the American people also understand that there are going to be times when that information cannot immediately be forthcoming.”
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