U.S. readying to present proof against bin Laden

By Andrea Koppel and Elise Labott
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration plans to offer proof this week that Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, State Department officials and diplomatic sources tell CNN.

Sources said Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz will meet Thursday with NATO defense ministers in Brussels, Belgium, where he will lay out evidence linking bin Laden and his al Qaeda network to the attacks.

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U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that the United States would soon be able to publish a report explaining bin Laden's connection to the September 11 terrorist acts.

The defense ministers had been scheduled to meet September 30 in Naples, Italy, but the meeting date was moved up, said officials.

"Even if countries are willing to help, they need proof," one State Department official said. The meeting is part of the Bush administration's "public diplomacy" to gather support for an international coalition against terrorism, the official said.

Senior administration officials said they are sorting through intelligence they have collected to make sure "methods and sources" are not compromised when the United States releases the information to the public.