I just think the costs of making these productions is very low and so is the level of skill needed to do so.
Let's say these 2 on the tape are in America. All they would need is a room in an apartment, a digital video camera, and a broadband connection. They create the tape, send it to someone who sends it to someone. The tape finds itself in the hands of the as Sahab people/person. The as Sahab people/person adds the logo, the translation, and some design. Everything is put on VHS or CD/DVD and dropped in a mailbox.
Now, lets say as Sahab already has a tape of UBL or gets one the same day the news of this American tape comes out. They go through the production process and let it hit the street. There is no translation needed for the UBL tape, so the production process would be much quicker.
Both production tapes originated in Pakistan.
I'm not sure if #2 was in response to #1, or #1 was a predecessor to #2... Heck, they may be (probably are) mutually exclusive. Thing is, whether these underlings are under dirrect command or not... they have evil intentions and may be in the U.S.
I think you've hit the nail on the head. They could easily send the tape via the 'Net.
I agree with everything you wrote, Ian. It is all plausible.
Someone can burn a dvd on their computer, pop it over to Pakistan and the "clouds organization" (sahab) can dupe it to video. Or vice versa.
Sahab does the editing and adds the subtitling and other effects, and there are messages in the Arabic forums to this effect, so they can certainly finish a communication with logos, etc.
What about the Zawahiri tape that came out on October 1st that urged all young islamofascists to go ahead on their own if their leaders were killed or captured. Then 4 weeks later TWO tapes roll out from their leaders? Al Q is in disarray. The messages are conflicting and uncoordinated. Either that or they are all not from AQ.
On SNL last night they recreated UBL's setting perfectly, including the logo and background