Something sounds odd about this. I thought this guy was from California; didn't they insist he sounded like someone who spoke English as a second language?
Have you ever tried to talk to somebody from California?
I'll skip my usual California joke and just say that other than "tieranny" it sounded like American English to me, or possibly non-American English aka British.
Some analyst must have opined that his English might not have been his primary language because he pronounced "tyranny" wrong and said "the Yemen" instead of "in Yemen", other minor details. However the part I heard of the tape clearly sounded like a natural American English speaker. I believe he is an ex-American.
"didn't they insist he sounded like someone who spoke English as a second language?"
That's what I heard too. Listening today to the video...what American says TIE-ranny instead of tyranny? He doesn't sound American to me...listen close and you can pick up the "accent"