Plans to release a video of Osama bin Laden supposedly discussing the September 11th attacks have been delayed.
The tape is about an hour long, but its poor quality has hampered efforts to translate it and prepare a copy for the public, US officials said today.
The videotape is thought to show bin Laden preparing for news reports of the attacks. It also allegedly demonstrates he had specific knowledge of the time, location and method of the attacks on the US.
The video, apparently not meant for public viewing, records a meal and conversation between bin Laden and a Saudi Arabian sheik, a prominent cleric with a disability, whom officials have declined to identify.
Two of bin Laden's associates - spiritual adviser Mr Ayman al-Zawahri and spokesman Mr Abu Ghaith - also appear in the tape.
US intelligence officers claim they found the tape in a house in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. It bears a date stamp that says it was made on November 9th.
Numerous US officials have already seen the tape and say it proves bin Laden was behind the September 11th attacks. Presidential spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer said officials would provide versions of what the tape says in Arabic and English translations.