[Ironword]

We have a situation, FRiends.

[VA Advogado]

This is so fake. Anyone that watched the first video tape of Bin Laden saw how rambling and incoherent his is. This is completely different, detailed and full of words he hasn't used before. This is pure utter faked hype.

[Jewels1091]

I say it's time for those new baby nukes, bomb every mountain. Get rid of the next generation while we are at it. Then set our gun sights on old saddam....The UN had us tied in knots 10 years ago, they don't now. Let's use some of those new weapons to see if they work.

[blam]

He failed to mention West Nile Virus. Phoney Baloney!

[jellybean]

Who is The World Future Society?

What Does the Society Do?

The Society strives to serve as a neutral clearinghouse for ideas about the future. Ideas about the future include forecasts, recommendations, and alternative scenarios. These ideas help people to anticipate what may happen in the next 5, 10, or more years ahead. When people can visualize a better future, then they can begin to create it.

Scroll down and see who some of their board members are.

[Clinton's a rapist]

I think the lead-in makes it clear that this is intended as a scenario or "what-if." The World Future Society is big on using strawman "scenarios" for workshopping policy. The thrust of the scenario is, I suspect, not that far from the truth. Where I would differ is that I think that the biowar threat delivered in the letter to Daschle, and alluded to in a veiled fashion by Tariq Aziz, is not quite as apocalyptic as this scenario implies. Basically, our government has been put on notice that sleepers here stand ready to inflict "unacceptable losses" if we attempt to remove Saddam Hussein from power. In other words, biological weapons are being used against us in much the same way as both sides in the Cold War used nuclear weapons, i.e. as a deterrent. On the basis of public information, the only capability we know about for sure is anthrax. Leaving aside the "Doomsday Weapon" of smallpox, anthrax is probably the most effective bioweapon out there, at least for use against an advanced society with sophisticated health care. A huge number of people can be exposed in the space of a few hours, the fatality rate is very high, and the window for treatment is short (or non-existent if an antibiotic-resistant strain is used). This is why Saddam's bioweapons program focused on anthrax, and why our bioweapons defense program has been almost totally focused on anthrax, too.

Now, is it possible that Saddam's insurance policy includes something even nastier than anthrax, such as smallpox, or some kind of bioengineered bug? Of course, it is possible. Do we have any evidence of that? There doesn't appear to be any public indication of such, although we cannot be privy to any threats that have been communicated directly to the US government. My own bet is that anthrax is probably the worst they've got. I think it's a lot worse of a threat than most people realize, but I also think that, if we stall a few months and can keep the dominoes from falling in the Mid-East (Pakistan, Saudi Arabia), it's possible that we may be able to put in place measures that can contain the risk well enough that we can risk a confrontation with Saddam. However, there's a lot of ifs, ands, and buts in that line of reasoning, and I certainly don't envy Dick Cheney's job right now, figuring out what to do about this.

[Dan Day]

The U.S. Special Forces action on the ground in Afghanistan on October 19 resulted in the capture of many useful documents. But the principal discovery was an audio tape which has just been found to contain a briefing by Osama bin Laden to his key subordinates. (Voice verification was done by the CIA.) Bin Laden’s purpose in this briefing was to assess developments to date and to inspire anew his "blessed group of vanguard Muslims" in their commitment to the jihad against "the infidels," especially "the great Satan." Internal evidence suggests that this tape must have been made on the 17th or 18th.

So... Let me get this straight... We raided Omar's residence on the 19th, and found a "briefing" recorded no more than two days previously. Let's keep in mind that Omar's residence was NO LONGER IN USE, because it was such an obvious bombing target.

So are we to believe that after bin Laden made a "briefing tape" somewhere out in the boonies, he made sure that a copy of it was hurriedly carried forth and delivered to a building that wasn't being used, within 48 hours?

Poppycock.

The translation here was made hurriedly on the 26th, and it is informal. Citations for quotations from the Koran are by the translator, and it may be confirmed that, remarkably, all the quotations are exact.

Ah, here the hoaxers have really stepped in it.

This is as specious and "what were these people smoking" as the ludicrous "NASA has found a missing day" urban legend.

There is no "exact" English "quotation" from the Qu'ran. Period. There are a big batch of English-translation Qy'ran's in publication, and just like *any* translation from an original language into another, there's no "correct" or "exact" translation. Every translation, of any source material, is always an approximation, and bear the unique and personal stamp of the translator. That's why there are many English versions of the Bible in existence.

So to say, "gasp, the quotations were exact" makes absolutely, positively, no kind of sense. It's the sort of "booga booga" stuff that people like to put into hoaxes to "prove" their authenticity when they have no real idea of what they're talking about.

If, in fact, this "translation" that is floating around in email happens to *exactly* match a particular English-language translation edition of the Qu'ran, all it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt is that it was WRITTEN IN ENGLISH ORIGINALLY AND IS NO TRANSLATION AT ALL, because the hoaxers played cut-and-paste with an English copy of the Qu'ran when they were constructing their fake in order to make it seem "exactly authentic".

Nice try.

A more literal translation of this speech is in progress at the CIA, along with a response analysis, but (consistent with the National Security Adviser’s position) officials there apparently plan not to release this text publicly, given its extremely inflammatory and chilling content. The President and Vice President have not yet seen this document.

And again:

Yeah, right -- the contents were so inflammatory and chilling that someone broke secrecy laws and released it to the public, but no one has yet gotten around to bothering to mention it to Bush and Cheney? Just how stupid do the hoaxers think we are?

But a source in the Pentagon (who wishes to remain anonymous) has now made this version available, his belief being that Bin Laden’s speech is too important to be denied the American public and, indeed, the world at this critical time.

This reads like any number of (badly done) urban legends that have been breathelessly spread over the internet. Not only does it not pass the smell test, but it's depressingly unoriginal. The "scare intro" seems lifted almost verbatim from some sort of "urban legend 'secret document release' form letter".

For pete's sake, if you're going to go through the trouble of putting together a couple of pages of hoax, at least make your cover story a bit less of a cliche.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

If you click back, you will discover that this is just one of a series of essays about terrorism written for the World Future Society. I guess the author is trying to be clever in order to set up his scenario and provoke some "what if" type thinking. If you read it with that context in mind, I guess it works OK. But it sure is easy to read it out of context!

[bjcintennessee]

Looks to me like we have a sleeper among our FReepers!! The objective of terrorism is to instill fear in any way possible and this article creates a very frightful scenario -- provided it were true. While I believe the article to be total BS, that does not mean that bin Looney and his lemmings would not attempt everything mentioned if they had the means. That is why we all should remain alert while going about our normal lives ... and not loose sleep over some terrorist's doomsday dreams!!!

[TheLion]

Obviously, the writer of this nonsense is someone here. These findings could only come from someone who is really up on things HERE. Bin Laden would not have access to this much information, IMO.

[xm177e2]

We shall soon teach them a new vocabulary. I have told you before that acquiring weapons of mass destruction—chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear—is a religious duty. We are doing so. The world now knows about anthrax. Soon the Americans, the British, and others will also learn in great detail about hemorrhagic smallpox (and how it differs from malignant smallpox, meningococcemia, or severe acute leukemia). They will learn about Q fever, tularemia, Marburg, and other diseases. The great Satan, America, will once again also learn about hoof and mouth disease. Our friends, including Muslim brothers in England and Iraq, are helping us to prepare for all of this. Using substances like these not singly, but simultaneously and in concert, we shall disgorge the plague of plagues upon the infidels and destroy them, as we are commanded.

Even if this is a real document (which I doubt)... it sounds like Osama is desperate to rally his troops under the crushing airstrikes.

[WIMom]

"They have already told us all we wanted to know about their state of preparedness for attack—how vulnerable they are to anthrax, smallpox, and the like, or to chemical weapons, or to attack planes—and where their weaknesses are in their power and water supply, transportation, commerce, telecommunications, agriculture, and elsewhere, including their homes. We now know these things exactly. They broadcast the details endlessly."

Enough said about the media.

Very interesing information, whether true or not, we need to be prepared. I find it hard to believe the president hasn't read this information, yet we are reading it on an internet web site.

[RaceBannon]

bump for later