2 Sept. 11 hijackers appear in 2000 video posted on British newspaper Web site

LONDON -- Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, smiles and jokes with another hijacker before the two turn serious and speak intently to a camera in a video posted Sunday on a British newspaper's Web site.\nThe Sunday Times said the video, which was dated Jan. 18, 2000 -- about a year and a half before the attacks against the United States -- was made in Afghanistan for release after the men's deaths.\nFor more than 30 minutes, the video shows Atta, who flew one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center, and Ziad Jarrah, who piloted United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed into a Pennsylvania field, both alone and together.\nThe newspaper said the hour-long video was made at an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan. It includes images of Osama bin Laden speaking to supporters in Kandahar, Afghanistan. A time stamp indicated that the footage of the leader was shot Jan. 8, 2000.\nIt has no sound, and the newspaper quoted a "U.S. source" who was not identified as saying that lip readers had been unable to decipher what the men were saying.\nAt times in the video, the two men look relaxed, laughing and chatting together before they grow serious and speak directly into the camera. At one point, they lean over a document the newspaper identifies as a will, studying it intently and sometimes pointing to specific sections and commenting to one another.\nThe Sunday Times said it had obtained the video "through a previously tested channel" but gave no further details.\nIt shows Atta and Jarrah sitting on the floor and alternates between tight shots, including only their faces, and wider images showing what appears to be a gun propped up on the wall next to them. Both men have full, dark beards.\nAtta wears a dark sweater or sweat shirt with a zipped-up collar and light stripes on the arms. He tries on a traditional Afghan cap at one point, then tosses it aside. Jarrah is in a long white robe and wire-frame glasses, which he later removes.\nBen Venzke, head of the Virginia-based IntelCenter, which monitors terrorism communications, said the video was probably raw footage which al-Qaida had intended to edit into a package similar to one released last month showing the last testament of two of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Wail al-Shehri and Hamza al-Ghamdi.\nBin Laden said a few years ago that he was saving Atta's last testament to release for a special occasion, Venzke said.\n"It is highly unlikely that al-Qaida wanted the material to be released in this manner, and it is not consistent with any previous release," he said.\nThe Sunday Times said the footage of bin Laden appeared to have been made at Tarnak Farm, once the base for the leader's family in the Afghan desert near Kandahar's airport.\nIt shows about 75 men, many in turbans or caps, sitting on the ground as bin Laden arrives to address them. A few children are also in the crowd. The man who appears to be bin Laden stands in front of an expanse of bare dirt dotted with a few trees and windowless, one-story mud-colored buildings, some of them partly in ruins.\nHe appears calm, with a long beard and a tan cloak over a white robe that covers his head. He speaks for more than 10 minutes, although the camera frequently cuts away from him and onto the audience. He often keeps his hands on the lectern and gesticulates occasionally.\nThe Sunday Times said those shown listening to bin Laden included Ramzi Binalshibh, who allegedly helped plan the Sept. 11 attacks and is now being held in the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.\nAlso reportedly present was Nasir Ahmad Nasir al Bahri, a security guard who the Sunday Times said has claimed he was authorized to shoot bin Laden in the head if the leader was in danger of being captured.