Osama bin Laden’s hours in a dark Afghanistan cave the evening of the Sept. 11 attacks were brought to light when his son-in-law testified in his own defense at his terrorism trial, portraying the al-Qaida leader was apprehensive and worried as he contemplated how America would respond.
The son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, said the al-Qaida leader asked him hours after the attacks what he thought would happen next.”Politically, I said, America, if it was proven that you were the one who did this, will not settle until it accomplishes two things: To kill you and topple the state of the Taliban,” Abu Ghaith said he told him.Bin Laden responded: “You’re being too pessimistic,” Abu Ghaith recalled in a discussion that he said went late into the night.He said bin Laden had sent a messenger to pick him up earlier on Sept. 11 from a house in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he had watched the news unfold on television. He said Bin Laden told him: “We are the ones who did it.”Testifying through an (Arabic) interpreter, the Kuwaiti-born defendant seemed relaxed, he was wearing a blue shirt beneath a charcoal-colored jacket.Abu Ghaith stated that videos he made warning of more attacks on Americans were based on “quotes and points by Sheik Osama.” He testified his videotaped sermons were religious in nature, and meant to encourage Muslims to fight oppression.
