Dershowitz on the "smoking gun" video

[Doug Millison]

http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20011215/877925.html


"[...]
In assessing the legal implications of the tape, it is as important to
focus on what is missing from the tape as what is present on it. There is
nothing on the tape that reveals bin Laden possessed information only a
person guilty of planning this horrible crime would possess. In other
words, the truth of the incriminating statements made on the tape is not
self-proving: It relies on believing bin Laden is telling the truth.

Contrast this tape with tapes that are sometimes introduced in
organized-crime or drug cases that are self-proving. Such tapes contain
information that is not in the public domain and could be known only by the
criminal. Such information might include the calibre of bullets used, the
location of transit points for drugs, the names of undisclosed associates,
etc. The bin Laden tape, in contrast, includes only information known to
everybody. For example, bin Laden's assertion that Mohammed Atta was the
leader of the hijackers has been widely reported and cannot be
independently confirmed.

[...]
On a larger level, the tape will serve as an important public-relations
weapon in the political, diplomatic and psychological war against terrorism
in general and bin Laden in particular. The court of public opinion has no
rules of admissibility for tapes or other types of information. And
although the vast majority of reasonable viewers and listeners will see
this tape for what it is -- an immoral man using religion to justify mass
murder -- they must also remember bin Laden is almost certainly a liar and
he may have had a corrupt motive to lie about at least some of his claims.

We're still waiting for the self-proving evidence that does not rely on
believing bin Laden is telling the truth.  "