Posted on 09/11/2003 7:29:02 PM PDT by blam
Bin Laden video is compilation of repeats, says expert
Brian Whitaker
Friday September 12, 2003
The Guardian (UK)
Experts were puzzling over the latest videotape of Osama bin Laden yesterday in the hope of establishing firm clues which may indicate when and where the recording was made. Parts of the 105-minute tape broadcast by al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite channel, on Wednesday night showed Bin Laden with his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who urged supporters to bury Americans in "the graveyard of Iraq".
But a French terrorism expert cautioned yesterday against taking the video at face value. Roland Jacquard, head of the International Observatory on Terrorism based in Paris, told French radio that it was mostly a collection of old footage and soundtracks which have been aired.
"Given that Osama bin Laden has not appeared on a video cassette for many months, it is pretty incomprehensible that in the only video cassette where he appears beside Ayman al-Zawahiri he doesn't speak, he just allows the latter to speak," Mr Jacquard said.
"The voice of Bin Laden that we hear in the background, thanking the World Trade Centre plane hijackers, is exactly the same message that was broadcast in a video cassette by al-Jazeera on December 26 2001," he said.
Mr Jacquard said some of the Bin Laden pictures on the tape could predate the US-led offensive in the Tora Bora mountains in eastern Afghanistan in December 2001 during which the al-Qaida leader was confirmed as being present.
A CIA official said yesterday that analysis of the "Bin Laden" voice on the latest tape had been inconclusive, but the other voice had been authenticated as Zawahiri's.
Sections of the tape showed Bin Laden and Zawahiri walking in a mountainous area carrying sticks, possibly to steady themselves over the rocky terrain, and automatic weapons.
Bin Laden had a watch with a large circular dial, different from the black digital watch which he often wore in photographs taken before the Afghan war. There was no sign of a ring which he previously wore on his right hand.
Experts said the background suggested the men had been filmed in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan in early summer.
Bin Laden made no topical references in the soundtrack but Zawahiri mentioned the US-led invasion of Iraq.
"On the second anniversary of the raids on New York and Washington we challenge America and its crusade, which is teetering from its wounds in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said.
An Arab journalist who interviewed Bin Laden in Tora Bora told the Guardian yesterday that the al-Qaida leader looked different in the video.
"He definitely has more grey hair but he looks healthier," said Abd al-Bari Atwan, editor of al-Quds al-Arabi.
He was also surprised by the timing of the video to coincide with September 11. "Bin Laden doesn't usually care about anniversaries," he said.
I am suspicious of the Guardian as a matter of course. But this comment is ludicrous.
Prairie
Bin Laden is deliberately releasing these old tapes in order for us to doubt that he is really among the living, then he gives a speech the Sunday before the elections next year where he taunts the President for not catching him.
Or, he is dead. It would be so easy for him to prove he is alive without giving clues to his whereabouts. Today for example, he could go into a white 10x10 room, discuss current events to a tee, like discuss the President's speech. Immediately after that, move to a different location, as the person with the tape waits a day or two, then hands the tape over to Al Jazeera. They air it, and the world knows for sure he lives.
There are only two logical reasons for him not to do so.
1. Definitive proof of him living would redouble our efforts to turn him into ash.
2. October Surprise for President Bush.
Yup, that's all they have to offer.
CIA Confirms Audio of Bin Laden Deputy
Thursday September 11, 2003 11:39 PM
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The CIA has authenticated a section of the audio on the new al-Qaida videotape as an actual recording of Osama bin Laden's chief deputy, but analysts are unsure whether the voice purported to be bin Laden himself is truly him, a CIA official said Thursday.
President Bush said the tape ``reminds us that the war on terror goes on.''
``His rhetoric tries to intimidate and create fear,'' Bush said after a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he visited troops wounded in the war in Iraq. ``He's not going to intimidate.''
Bush said his administration is doing all it can to prevent more attacks on the United States.
``We are slowly but surely dismantling al-Qaida,'' he said. ``We're fighting this war on a lot of fronts. ... You can't negotiate with these people.''
The videotape, aired Wednesday on the Arab al-Jazeera television network, has two voiceovers, one purportedly from bin Laden, and the other from his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. A CIA official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said agency analysts have determined that al-Zawahri's voice is authentic.
But the technical analysis of the section with bin Laden's voice is inconclusive, the official said. The analysis will continue, but the official acknowledged the CIA may not be able to make a final determination.
In speaking, al-Zawahri mentions the war in Iraq, which suggests it was recorded sometime since the fighting started in March. The voice purported to be bin Laden's speaks only of some of the Sept. 11 hijackers but makes no reference to more recent events.
U.S. intelligence officials said the tape is regarded as al-Qaida propaganda aimed at capitalizing on the Sept. 11 anniversary. Such messages let the network's rank-and-file know the leadership is still viable, officials said.
Officials also said messages from al-Qaida leaders sometimes presage an attack
Binnie isn't goin to be havin any more anniversaries.
Post-Mortem Jihad Hi-Jinx
With His Two Gay Pals
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.