WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is weighing whether to make public a videotape in which Osama bin Laden says he was pleasantly surprised by the extent of damage from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

On the tape, bin Laden recalls tuning in to news shows hours before the attacks, waiting to hear reports about the destruction, a U.S. official said. Bin Laden also says that after the first plane struck, he told those with him that more devastation was coming.

Vice President Dick Cheney said the tape shows clearly that bin Laden was behind the attacks.

Monday, the National Security Council was debating whether to release the tape, said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. He said President Bush does not want to give bin Laden any publicity, but feels releasing the tape is important "for people to know what Osama bin Laden has said in this regard."

Fleischer said this tape is different from earlier footage that administration officials thought contained coded messages for bin Laden operatives outside Afghanistan. "This does not appear to be prepackaged propaganda," Fleischer said. "This appears to be a conversation that was taped when he was talking with other people."

Bush has seen the tape and read a transcript of its contents, Fleischer said.

A key consideration for the administration is whether releasing the tape would help win over Muslims who doubt the veracity of U.S. claims that bin Laden was behind the attacks.

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Monday the tape should be made public. "I believe if you have a choice between treating the American people at arm's length and as adults, you treat them as adults, and they should have the opportunity to see this tape," he said on CBS' "The Early Show."

"It is ... equally important that the world see this tape because there are still some places where there is suspicion about whether there is evidence to link bin Laden to the events of Sept. 11," Graham said.

The same stance was taken by Sens. Joseph Biden D-Del., who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. "The world needs to see this," Hagel said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition."

On the other hand, Gehad Auda, a professor of political science at Cairo's Helwan University, said broadcast of the tape would create a "propaganda splash" but "not cause any turnover in public opinion."

"It won't make a difference to those who are hostile to America whether the tape is made public or not," Auda said. "This is a matter of belief, not a matter of clarifying information."

Cheney said it is not his decision whether to release the tape but indicated there was reluctance to do so. "We've not been eager to give the guy any extra television time," he said.

Cheney confirmed the tape's existence, disclosed by The Washington Post in Sunday editions, and other officials described the contents on condition of anonymity.

The tape provides clear proof the leader of the al-Qaida network was behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that killed about 3,300 people, the vice president said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"He does, in fact, display significant knowledge of what happened and there's no doubt about his responsibility for the attack on September 11," Cheney said.

The tape shows bin Laden being interviewed or meeting with a cleric. He speaks in Arabic and discusses the terrorist attacks, according to Cheney, who said he had seen parts of the tape.

The al-Qaida leader expresses surprise and pleasure at the amount of damage done to the World Trade Center, the official said. Another official said bin Laden indicates on the tape he had expected the twin towers to collapse only down to the level of where the planes struck.

Bin Laden's comments show he had specific advance knowledge of the time, method and location of the attacks, the officials said.

A third official said the tape suggests the ringleaders of the attacks did not tell all the hijackers that their mission would end in death.

U.S. officials declined to say how the United States obtained the tape, which one described as amateurish and apparently made with a handheld video camera. The Post said it was discovered during the search of a private home in Jalalabad, Afghanistan

Bin Laden has not publicly taken responsibility for the attacks, though he has praised them. U.S. officials have said they intercepted communications tying bin Laden or associates to the attacks, but have refused to release any materials, citing intelligence concerns.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz expressed irritation that anyone would doubt bin Laden's guilt.

"I don't know what it takes to convince some people," he said on CNN. "We had absolutely clear-cut evidence before that tape turned up."