Former ABC Reporter to Bin Laden: 'You Are Like Teddy Roosevelt'
Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 9:08:05 am PDT
Former ABC correspondent John Miller is testifying in the case of Osama bin Laden’s driver, Salim Hamdan, and his account of his interview with bin Laden in 1998 is a look at the eagerness of mainstream media to help the enemies of the US: Bin Laden sought U.S. fame in TV interview.
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden wanted to introduce himself to America with an ABC television interview months before al Qaeda bombed two U.S. embassies in Africa, the interviewer testified on Tuesday.
Former ABC correspondent John Miller, testifying at the first Guantanamo war crimes trial, also recalled comparing bin Laden with U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt as he made small talk during filming of the May 28, 1998, interview at an Afghanistan mountain hideout.
It was a rare opportunity for an American journalist, and Miller detailed a movie-thriller route to get to bin Laden, complete with multiple plane flights in Pakistan, a nighttime border crossing into Afghanistan, and muzzle flashes from automatic weapons at an al Qaeda checkpoint.
“You are like the Middle East version of Teddy Roosevelt,” Miller, who is now the chief FBI spokesman, told bin Laden in a selection of the interview tape screened for the trial of bin Laden’s driver, Salim Hamdan. ...
Miller said the Roosevelt remark was meant to test bin Laden’s historical awareness and “keep the conversation going” as his cameraman filmed secondary footage. He said he compared the two as sons of wealthy families who fought on front lines — Roosevelt gained fame as a U.S. Army Cavalry colonel in Cuba during the 1898 Spanish-American war.
“On one level, it’s an absurd comparison,” Miller said. However, he said, “sometimes when you ask a provocative question you elicit an interesting response.”
Bin Laden didn’t take that bait, Miller said, but he achieved his goal in granting the interview. “They wanted to introduce Osama bin Laden to America,” Miller said. “It did that.”
