Ian, I feel the same way about that miserly footage. The speaker appeared and sounded like any American. I did not notice an accent either. He sounded like someone who was unsure of his lines and inexperienced in front of a camera. His heavy gulping breathing is what I saw as affecting his speech, not an accent.
I don't mean to say that he did not know what he was talking about, but I mean that he acted and sounded similar to an actor who is a newbie and lacks comfort in front of a camera. His finger raising seemed scripted as well.
Still desk bound (and unable to hear audio/video of tape excerpts) and wonder.......In addition to camera shyness, could it be that he understood the magnitude of the message IF and ONLY IF the message was a harbinger of nasty things to come. Hate to be pessimistic, but there are too many unorthodox things about how this tape has come out.
Something fishy's going on.
On another board soneone said the breathing was like some one doing meth.
Here's my take on it: "Hey Ahab! Want a piece of me!?? Come and get it MF!!!"
[Sorry...but I meant that..]
"His heavy gulping breathing is what I saw as affecting his speech, not an accent."
On another thread someone mentioned this breathing pattern was typical of meth users. Given the news story last week about the Beslan terrorists being on drugs this might hold some water.