Recovered videotapes show 'martyrdom messages'

WASHINGTON -- The government released photos and video excerpts Thursday of five suspected al Qaeda members delivering what Attorney General John Ashcroft described as "martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists." \nAshcroft called upon people worldwide to help "identify, locate and incapacitate terrorists who are suspected of planning additional attacks against innocent civilians." \n"These men could be anywhere in the world," he said. \nAshcroft said five videotapes, shown without sound, had been recovered from the rubble of the home of Mohammad Atef, believed to have been Osama bin Laden's military chief. Officials say Atef was killed by a U.S. airstrike in November. The sound was left out to guard against the possibility that the messages contained signals for other terrorists. \nAshcroft said the videotapes "depict young men delivering what appear to be martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists."\nHe added that an analysis of the audio suggests "the men may be trained and prepared to commit future suicide terrorist acts." \nHe said the government had tentatively identified four of the five men depicted in the video as Abd Al-Rahim, Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan, Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani and Ramzi Binalshibh. Ashcroft said not much is known about any of them except Binalshibh, a Yemeni whom officials allege was an associate of Sept. 11 suicide hijacker Mohammed Atta. \nIn the indictment handed down in December against Zacarias Moussaoui, Binalshibh was named along with Atta and the 18 other hijackers as an unindicted co-conspirator. \nAt a news conference, Ashcroft showed 30-second videos of Hasan, Al-Rahim and Al-Juhani. \nAshcroft said investigators were still translating the tapes; a decision about releasing the sound or a translation would be made after weighing security concerns, he said, adding that the department may decide not to release the sound. \n"The portions we released today we felt were safe for release, and we didn't believe they contained any surreptitious messages or coded signals that would be designed to alert parts of the terrorist network," Ashcroft said. \nIn the tapes, Hasan spoke, eyes cast down; he appeared to be reading, but only his face was shown. He wore a black and white scarf around his head. \nAl-Rahim was shown seated, talking and gesturing rapidly, at one point holding fingers up as if listing off various points. \nIn a disturbing video, Al-Juhani was shown seated in front of a colorful curtain taking a red and white scarf off his head and burying his head in his arms. \nIn a new setting with a plain background, Al-Juhani was shown hugging a rifle with a leather strap that had Arabic writing on it. Al-Juhani held the rifle close, not speaking, and at one point put his lips close to it, eyes closed. He then looked up and smiled. \nAshcroft said the public release of the video footage and photos was part of an effort to help "freedom-loving people become the best line of self-defense." \nAs for the attack that he said was called for in the video, Ashcroft said: "Whether or not the attack would be imminent or not is something we can't determine." \nFBI Director Robert Mueller said the videos came "from a trove of valuable information" discovered within Afghanistan. He said the tapes are still being analyzed to determine when they were made. He said there was no evidence any of the men had entered the U.S., although at least one had tried. \n"Every piece of information is potentially valuable," he said. "The principle is simple: An informed and enlightened public works." \nMueller said as the U.S. military action goes forward, "it continues in ways that I think support what we, and the CIA, are engaged in, which is identifying terrorists and preventing future attacks." \nAshcroft said officials believe progress is being made in combating terrorism but also admitted the war on terror is far from done.\n"We're further down the road then we were before, but this is no time for us to take our foot off the accelerator," he said.