Bin Laden's Denial of 9/11

[Rayaan]

My understanding is that he initially denied it, but later claimed responsibility.

Have any links or sources for that? So far though, I haven't seen anything credible where Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility or that authorized the attacks.

Now, here's the problem I have with all these news stories and tapes that have come out. As you can see in the links above, Osama Bin Laden took no responsibility for the killing attacks although the US already pegged him as the man behind the attack even before he denied it. I'm no psychologist, but he doesn't strike me as a guy who's going to squirm at ever claiming responsibility for such an attack, IF he did it. There's no reason to, and he might even be willing to be killed in fighting a war.

Given what I read somewhere yesterday is true... that Bin Laden was a spiritual leader rather than a military activist... how do you regard his position Rayaan? Do you think he was outside mainstream Islam or a part of a bonefide division within mainstream Islam?

Bin Laden was both a religious leader and a military activist according to my knowledge. He was a military commander who had religious leanings and I read that he built camps for his mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan. He also assisted in delivering aids and arms to the Afghan forces and eventually joined the fight against the Soviets in 1979 when they invaded the country. However, I don't think he would fall under mainstream Islam because a lot of his views on religion are quite extreme compared to the majority of Muslims. Additionally, groups such as the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are all considered to be outside of the mainstream.

I'll go ahead and just be honest ... are you in support of Osama Bin Laden because he was "misunderstood" by the USA? .... or for any other reason?

I don't support him and I have nothing to gain by 'supporting' him. As for him being misunderstood by the USA, that could be true, because he may have been cast in a much worse light by the US government by connecting him to the 9/11 attacks although there is no solid evidence for the connection.

I'm not saying that he certainly DIDN'T authorize the attacks. Rather, what I'm saying is that the probability of it being staged by either the American government itself or another group of terrorists could be higher than what you think. There is a high probability that 9/11 was completely staged. I think it was too organized to be done by Osama bin Laden in such a perfect sync and I'm not dismissing any of the conspiracy theories that the whole thing was staged by America itself. America's government is widely known to be notorious at hiding things from their own people and the rest of the world through numerous events (two very well known regarding the Watergate scandal and the U2 bomber).