Real History and the Pentagon Lies

Posted Sunday, January 6, 2002

Thursday January 3 6:02 PM ET

US Takes Liberties in [Osama] Leaflet Facts

By DAVID PACE, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is taking liberties with the facts in two high profile documents appealing for help in locating terrorists.

A State Department ad offering millions in rewards contains inaccurate information about hijacking ringleader Mohammed Atta, while a Pentagon leaflet dropped in Afghanistan includes a photo purporting to be Osama bin Laden in Western clothing without a beard.

leaflet State Department officials acknowledged the reward money ad running across the United States gives apparent details about Atta that actually were borrowed from other terrorism suspects, or were inaccurate.

The ad's creators "took some liberties with some of the content," said a State Department official, who asked not to be identified.

Separately, the Pentagon released copies of the leaflets but could not immediately say who was in the picture, whether it was bin Laden or whether it was intended to deceive people into thinking bin Laden had abandoned his religious beliefs and had shaved his beard. The government acknowledged the leaflets are being dropped by U.S. planes.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he wasn't aware of the leaflet with the questionable photo. But he said, "The whole premise of bin Laden's activities in the world are premised on lies."

Muslim Americans said playing loose with the facts hurts the government's already damaged image in the Muslim world.

"All of this hide-and-seek attitude really cuts into the credibility of our story, which is the strongest story," said Shaker Elsayed, secretary general of the Muslim American Society. "We have a great case to make. We are hurt by not speaking straightforward."

The State Department ad, part of the "Rewards for Justice" program, is being run in newspapers across the country. The text surrounding Atta's picture says he "wanted to learn to fly but didn't need to take off and land." That statement has never been attributed to Atta.

It was widely attributed to Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in connection with the attacks, in the weeks after Sept. 11. But FBI Director Robert Mueller told federal prosecutors in November that Moussaoui had aroused suspicions by saying just the opposite, that he only wanted to learn to take off and land.

Attta leaflet The ad also suggests that Atta "was interested in crop dusting - an obviously risky behavior - when he couldn't even get a plane off the ground." Atta did make inquiries about crop dusting in Florida, but he had a commercial pilot's license and rented and flew small planes several times in Florida and Georgia.

Charlotte Beers, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, said when the ad campaign was unveiled last month that "we're talking about clues that might have led you to spot someone like Mohammed Atta."

The State Department official who commented Thursday said Atta's picture was used because he was the most well known of the hijackers, but the ad's text included a composite of activities from several hijackers and Moussaoui.

Stephen Hess, an analyst with the Brookings Institution, called the ad a mistake and said it could hurt U.S. credibility in the Muslim world.

"There's no mystery that we are held suspect in large parts of the world," he said. "For just that reason, the U.S. government must be sure that everything it does can bear scrutiny. Frankly, this is sloppy."

One leaflet being dropped by U.S. planes shows bin Laden with turban and beard and says he "laughs at you because you don't know he has sent you to your death."

The other shows what appears to be a clean-shaven bin Laden, wearing short hair and a Western suit and tie - an image that might offend followers of his and the Taliban' strict version of Islam. There have been rumors among Afghans that bin Laden has shaved or used a disguise to slip out of the country.

"Osama bin Laden the murderer and coward has abandoned you," the leaflet says.

There have been accusations that the U.S. altered the videotape it released last month in which bin Laden was talking about planning the Sept. 11 attacks.

Rumsfeld was asked at Thursday's press briefing if people might see the leaflet photo as proof that America doctors or fabricates things.

"That is a possibility - that people will say something that's not true," Rumsfeld replied. "There's nothing much we can do about it. We live in the world, we get up in the morning, we go about and do our business as best we can."

Associated Press Writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.