British dossier links evidence to bin Laden

LONDON -- Osama bin Laden spoke of a "major attack on America" in the days before the strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and warned associates to return to Afghanistan by Sept. 10, according to a dossier released by the British government on Thursday. \nThe report is the first attempt by a government to lay out evidence, albeit circumstantial, connecting bin Laden to the attacks. \nDetails, including the names and sources behind the evidence, were excised for security reasons, but Prime Minister Tony Blair said authorities know much more than they can say publicly. Blair outlined the report in the House of Commons and it was later posted on the Internet. The report contains much that has been reported already by U.S. and other agencies, and does not purport to provide a prosecutable case against bin Laden. Instead, it assembles the growing mountain of circumstantial evidence against him, including direct ties to "at least three" of the 19 suspected hijackers. \nThe summary asserts that one of those three hijackers played key roles in both the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, which killed 219 people, including 12 Americans, and the deadly attack on the warship U.S.S. Cole in Yemen in October 2000. \nBlair said government ministers and the leaders of the British opposition had seen the full evidence and "have absolutely no doubt that bin Laden and his network are responsible" for the Sept. 11 attacks. \nU.S. administration officials presented similar evidence to NATO allies in Brussels on Tuesday and to Pakistan, which neighbors Afghanistan and has relations with that country's ruling Taliban militia. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Riaz Khan said Thursday the evidence against bin Laden was sufficient to indict him for the Sept. 11 attacks. \nAccording to the dossier, investigators have established that "bin Laden himself asserted shortly before September 11 that he was preparing a major attack on America." \n"Immediately prior to September 11, some known associates of Bin Laden were naming the date for action as on or around September 11," the report notes. "In August and early September close associates of bin Laden were warned to return to Afghanistan from other parts of the world by September 10," it adds. \nIt also says the detailed planning for the attacks was carried out by one of bin Laden's "closest and most senior associates," who is not named. The document says investigators have obtained "evidence of a very specific nature relating to the guilt of bin Laden and his associates that is too sensitive to release." \n"It is not possible without compromising people or security to release precise details and fresh information is daily coming in," Blair told lawmakers. \nIn his speech, the prime minister indicated military action was likely, but gave no hint as to when it would happen. \n"We are now approaching the difficult time when action is taken. It will be difficult, there are no easy options," he said. \nIn Paris, French Defense Minister Alain Richard said U.S. military retaliation isn't likely for several weeks. \n"The decisions to take action haven't been made," Richard said. "Everyone is going to prepare their own means that will be well-adapted for a joint effort. We aren't at the end of that," Richard said. \nThe dossier also accuses Afghanistan's Taliban rulers of a "close and mutually dependent alliance" with bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization and alleges that bin Laden has representatives serving within the Taliban military command. \nBin Laden and al-Qaeda supply the Taliban with "material, financial and military support" and in return receive protection, a share in Afghanistan's drug trade and freedom to operate terrorist training bases in the country, the document says. \n"Bin Laden could not operate his terrorist activities without the alliance and support of the Taliban regime. The Taliban's strength would be seriously weakened without Osama bin Laden's military and financial support," it asserts. \nDrawing on previously released information, the report describes bin Laden's network of training camps, warehouses, communication facilities and businesses in countries including the Sudan, Somalia and Kenya. \nThe summary also includes evidence linking bin Laden associates to the embassy bombings and the USS Cole attack. Bin Laden has been indicted in the embassy bombings and is thought by U.S. officials to have masterminded the Cole attack in Yemen. It also says associates of bin Laden have sought to obtain nuclear and chemical materials for use as terrorist weapons.\nThe dossier concludes that bin Laden and al-Qaeda "retain the will and resources to carry out further atrocities"