Suspected terrorist’s father: bin Laden tape is forgery

CAIRO, Egypt  — The father of Mohammed Atta dismissed as a “forgery” a videotape released Thursday in which Osama bin Laden calls his son the leader of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackers.

The father, Mohamed al-Amir al-Sayed Awad Atta, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that he had not seen the tape, but declared it a “farce. All this is a forgery, a fabrication!”

“The whole world has been saying this name (Mohammed Atta). Where did bin Laden get the name from? Bin Laden got it from America,” Atta said.

According to the translation of the tape, which was released by the United States on Thursday, bin Laden identifies Atta as being “in charge of the group.”

U.S. investigators believe that Atta was the ringleader behind the hijackings of the four passenger planes that crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvanian field.

The elder Atta, a 65-year-old retired lawyer, has repeatedly denied his son’s involvement in the terrorist attacks that killed thousands and sparked the U.S.-led war against terrorism.

He has said his son might have been kidnapped and his papers stolen to implicate him in the attacks. He has also claimed to have spoken to his son by telephone after Sept. 11.

“America is the land of aberration and forgery,” the father said, shouting “damn America!” before abruptly hanging up.

Atta, 33, is believed to have been at the controls of American Airlines Flight 11 when it hit the World Trade Center and has been linked to hijackers on two of the three other planes.

Investigators say Atta was part of a terrorist cell in Hamburg, Germany, and received flight training in Florida.

In the months before the attack, he met with Islamic extremists in Spain, inquired about crop-dusters in Florida, conferred with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Europe and skipped a court date in Florida for driving without a license.