Carper Responds to Bin Laden Video Tape

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Tom Carper issued the following response to the videotape of Osama Bin Laden released today: “Today, we saw the face of the enemy. Today, we heard the voice of a killer. We did not need to see this tape to know that Bin Laden is guilty. We did not need to hear it from his lips to know that he was responsible for the death of 4,000 Americans. On September 11th, we were left with three questions – how did this happen? Who was responsible? And why did they do it? It was chilling to see Osama Bin Laden answer these questions himself today. In the court of world opinion, this proved his guilt beyond a shadow of doubt. To hear Bin Laden praise Allah for the death of thousands of innocents is blasphemy of the worst kind. When they recorded this tape, they were celebrating those murderers. Today, with the Taliban in ruins, Al Qaeda on the run and our military continuing its bombardment – they are paying for them. As a former Mission Commander of a Navy P-3 Aircraft, part of what I found most alarming was the middle portion of the tape, watching Al Qaeda members pick over a crashed American military helicopter. That scene brings home to each of us the courage and commitment of our soldiers, our sailors, and our airmen and the justice of their mission. In the tape, Bin Laden says “we will not stop our raids until you free our lands.” Well, we will not stop our military strikes until he has paid in full for this attack against our nation.”