Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese Sunni Cleric Fathi Yakan, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on March 16, 2007:

Fathi Yakan: There is no doubt that Sheik Osama bin Laden has a high level of faithfulness, trustworthiness, and transparency. He is faithful to his religion and to Jihad for the elevation of the word of Allah. Unfortunately, there have been many rumors that he is an American creation, and that all that is happening is the result of scenarios concocted by him and America, especially following the Russians withdrawal from Afghanistan. There were claims that these people were biased towards the Americans, and that America toyed with them, and so on. I believe this is all nonsense, and that this is totally untrue. This man has a pure, honest and believing personality. He defends all that belongs to Islam and who renounces anything that is not Islamic, and therefore, he is a man after my own heart.

Interviewer: You met him once, didn't you?

Fathi Yakan: It may have been more than once, because whenever I go to Saudi Arabia, I am invited to meetings and to deliver talks, just like many other preachers and scholars from Egypt and elsewhere. So I may have met him more than once.

From what I know of the man, he is very sincere in what he calls for. I could almost say that I would not regard anyone else the same way I regard Osama bin Laden with respect to Al-Qaeda. Every person has his own characteristics, of course. I once wrote to Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, [warning him]: "Oh Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, fear Allah in the way you behave." I said this should be determined by Islamic law. I even wrote to the Al-Qaeda leadership, saying neither Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi nor anyone else should be left to act on their own accord, because of the fate of Islam...

Interviewer: Just to prevent misunderstanding - are you in contact with these people?

Fathi Yakan: Yes. With regard to Iraq, the Association of Muslims scholars maintains constant contact with all the forces that operate there.

[...]

Interviewer: But there was an operation, for which Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility - the bombing of the Twin Towers in America, and what was described as terrorist attacks against the Americans. In this case, for example, are you with him or against him? Were you happy when you saw the towers collapse?

Fathi Yakan: If we examine the ideology of Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden in depth, we see that he has become completely convinced that the only way to curb the disease that is afflicting the Islamic world... The only way to stop this octopus is to crush the serpent's head.

Interviewer: Do you share this opinion?

Fathi Yakan: It's fine with me. I might have crushed the serpent's head in a different way. I might have crushed it by means of the Islamic resistance in South Lebanon, by attacking Israel. But Bin Laden said: "No, I will strike it in its own home. I will strike it in the World Trade Center, and shake its economic status." This is his methodology, and he should bear responsibility for it, but I am not sad or depressed that this happened, and I do not condemn it. In all honestly, I have never condemned this. Just like it had negative ramifications, it had positive ones as well.