WSU grad's revelations: Bin Laden named names

AL-AHMED 1998 WSU j-grad

MCLEAN, Virginia, Feb. 14, 2002 -- The U.S. television network translations of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden speaking on a home video of a celebratory Kandahar banquet were done by 1998 Winona State University grad Ali Al-Ahmed. In his translations, for ABC and NBC, Ali-Ahmed corrected official U.S. Defense Department fragments that had been released to the news media. Among Al-Ahmed revelations was that bin Ladin had identified several terrorists by name. The Pentagon had claimed those passages and others were too muffled to be understood. The reality, said Al-Ahmed, was that the government had chosen for political purposes to release certain segments of dialogue and not others. Al-Ahmed, a native of Saudi Arabia and frequent critic of the Saudi monarchy, is executive director of the independent Saudi Institute in McLean, Va. He is a frequent media source on Saudi Arabia, Muslim and Arabic issues. Besides Ali-Ahmed's work on the bin Laden translations for ABC and CNN, he has appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," PBS' "Front Line," and on BBC He been quoted in the Washington Post and numerous other publications. At Winona State, Ali-Ahmed studied journalism.

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WINONA, Minn., Feb. 14, 2002 -- The April 12 Sugar Ray concert at Winona State will cost more than $60,000 including the $40,000 already promised to the band, according to the university's student activities director. Joe Reed said the $60,000 plus will come mostly from ticket sales, which are expected to bring in $52,500 if all 3,500 tickets sell out at $15 each. The rest of the cost will be absorbed by the UPAC student activities budget, he said. The director of UPAC, the committee organizing the concert, decided to keep ticket prices at $15 and dip into the committee's budget to keep ticket prices low for students. "It'll cut into the UPAC budget about $10,000," Reed said. Unlike some universities, Reed said Winona State has no interest in making any money from the concert. "You've already paid for the concert with your activity fees," Reed said about students. Reporter: Shane Hawley Background: Sugar Ray commits to April 12

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