[fivecatsandadog]

I find it hard to believe this tape was just left behind.

Ditto. Finding it seems too easy. And the tape was made on November 9? That's almost two months after the attack. Don't you think that most of the OBL or AQ top men would have already met or talked about it way before Nov 9? And why would anyone go to the trouble of taping this meeting? I believe the tape is real, but was there a purpose in making it - and leaving it behind? Ok, maybe someone was in a big hurry to leave. Was there anything else left behind in the house or was it cleared out except for this tape?

[Baseballguy]

I believe the tape is real, but was there a purpose in making it - and leaving it behind?

They are stupid!!!!

[Exeter]

Granted, it's unusual to find such a document as this left behind to be found by others. But remember, Robert E. Lee's plans for the invasion of Maryland were left behind and found wrapped around a bundle of his cigars by Union scouts. This information allowed the North to mass forces at Sharpsburg on the Antietem Creek and end Lee's drive north. Also remember during Operation Market-Garden a copy of the overall Allied plans were found by a German soldier in a crashed British glider, though the German high command discounted their authencity. War is a messy business, and in the chaos of conflict (especially when you're in the process of "bugging out") Murphy's Law rules the battlefield...

[Oldeconomybuyer]

but was there a purpose in making it - and leaving it behind?

I've heard/read that OBL often has video/photo men that travel with him - an ego thing I guess. The other guy is alleged to be a Saudi that traveled to Afghanistan (he spoke about his trek on the video) and must have had some clout to get a meeting with OBL his bad self.

The interesting thing to me is that the Saudi was described on one of the cable TV networks as a "Wahhabi". This is the radical strain of Islam with roots in Saudi Arabia that bred OBL and his jihadi warriors.

Islam is not OBL's base, Wahhabism is.