Days before U.S. and British missiles rained down on Afghanistan, the U.S. government and Secretary of State Colin Powell said evidence of the guilt of Osama bin Laden, the chief U.S. suspect in attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, would be shown.

Then it quickly reneged on that promise, passing off its allegations as points of fact, having British Prime Minister Tony Blair give lackluster testimony to "evidence" provided by U.S. officials and moving ahead with military strikes against an already suffering nation.

When they finally did show some of the "evidence" to a limited number of nations, it merely included old indictments (that is earlier charges of Mr. bin Laden�s involvement in the tragic bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa), and other tidbits in a document U.S. officials admit would not hold up in a court of law.

A columnist for the UK-based Independent noted, "Only nine of 70 points in the document relate to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and these often rely on conjecture rather than evidence." The columnist also observed that while some Muslim rulers may be cajoled into accepting the "evidence," based in part on their own concerns about Mr. bin Laden, their populations will not. Demonstrations in Pakistan and Palestine are also signs that many Muslims see the bombing of Afghanistan as another example of U.S. arrogance and a war against Islam.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi warned Oct. 9 that the attacks would encourage the so-called religious extremism the U.S. wants to discourage. "We are concerned that such an operation will not eliminate extremism, but on the contrary the extremist ways of thinking and the extremist movement will expand," he told Reuters.

Meanwhile in America, Robert A. Pope and Chaim Kaufmann also called for showing the evidence. In an Oct. 4 op-ed printed in the New York Times, they noted that Americans aren�t the only audience that needed to be convinced of the guilt of Mr. bin Laden. Angry anti-U.S. protests are proof of anger against the world�s only superpower, but not a sign of a readiness to become suicide bombers. "It is probably true that no matter how strong our evidence against Mr. bin Laden, some in the Muslim world will not be persuaded. But that is no reason to surrender the field of debate to our fiercest enemies," argue the two men, who both teach international relations.

In response to a question from a reporter, during a barely reported Sept. 16 press conference, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said, "According to what I heard on television, there�s overwhelming evidence that Osama bin Laden is responsible for this. As a Muslim, it reads in the Qur�an as guidance for us: �Whenever an unrighteous person brings you news, look carefully into it lest you harm a people in ignorance, then be sorry for what you did.� �

"It�s unfortunate that one of the first casualties in war is the truth. I would say that this overwhelming evidence should be put before the leaders of the world before it is allowed that their countries be landing bases. � Produce the evidence and we back you up. But if it�s something that you have used as a predicate for something else, then maybe it would be wise for us to look carefully at the evidence."

With many voices still urging caution and reports of wide support for pursuing Mr. bin Laden, if he committed the Sept. 11 crimes against humanity, the U.S. should show the evidence�the number of lives at stake and potential destruction to be wrought by this conflict are enough to justify it.