Bin Laden tape a fake, Swiss lab says

The Toronto Star (Canada) ^ | Nov. 28, 2002. 06:23 PM | AP

[FreedomCalls]

Scientists compared recording to 20 other tapes of terror chief

PARIS (AP) - The latest audiotape statement attributed to accused terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden is not authentic, a Swiss research institute said. The Lausanne-based Dalle Molle Institute for Perceptual Artificial Intelligence said it is 95-per-cent certain the tape does not feature the voice of the long-absent terrorist leader.

The review of the tape was commissioned by France-2 television and its findings were presented by the institute's Professor Herve Boulard in a special TV report shown late Thursday.

He said the institute compared the voice on the tape, first aired two weeks ago on Al-Jazeera, an Arabic television network, with some 20 earlier recordings of bin laden.

U.S. experts maintain the tape will likely never be fully authenticated because its poor quality defies complete analysis by even the most sophisticated voice-print technology.

But U.S. experts who have heard it generally support the conclusion by U.S. law-enforcement officials that it probably is bin Laden speaking.

In the tape, the speaker refers to recent terrorist strikes U.S. officials believe are connected to bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. If fully verified, it would provide the first evidence in a year that bin Laden survived U.S. bombing in Afghanistan.

[FreepEverything]

An incredibly large movement,....as in BM.

HAHA, good one, but I think you now owe an apology to all manure everywhere.

[CFC__VRWC]

Man, the paranoia has been running thick since the election!

At the time the bin Laden tape first surfaced, the Democrat theme de jour was "Bush is totally blowing the war on terrorism!" Unfortunately, they didn't have any vivid, easily sound-biteable evidence to back this claim up and the tactic was swirling around the bottom of the bowl, just like every other tactic they had tried to date.

All of a sudden Al Jazeera produces this tape supposedly from UBL, and the Rats and their liberal media shills snap it up like a marlin goes after a squid. The tactic was back on the table. Their response was too well scripted and coordinated for me to believe that the top hacks did nothing more than hurriedly put a few talking points on the fax machine.

Paranoid? I'll concede your point to a degree. We all know what the mainstream media thinks about us, and that many of them think we're a bigger threat than Al Qaeda. That can't help but color our thinking. But you cannot deny that they have pulled similar crap countless times in the past, loudly trumpeting a bogus story that they think will damage Republicans, only to quietly pull it later on when the damage has already been done or when it's no longer useful.

Furthermore, the Arab leaders and Al Jazeera certainly knew about the election, and it's not hard to figure out who they were rooting for.

In retrospect, I shouldn't have used that "Move along folks, nothing to see here" bit. At the time I thought it was cute, but the more I read it the more it gives the entire post too much of a "tin-foil hat" flavor. My apologies.

[Cacique]

bump

[patriciaruth]

The Swiss are positive, because Binny's secret accounts show no transactions since last December.

Bingo!

[patriciaruth]

What do you think became of that little piece of excrement Ayman Al-Zawahiri?

Report yesterday that he was in Bangladesh. Bangladesh today is vehemently denying.

As he was joined at the hip with Osama, my hope is that they are both together in Hell.

[patriciaruth]

On the other hand, it gives ammunition to the anti-war with Iraq crowd that says we have to have Bin ladin or his body first.

Ya know, we never did find Hitler's body.

Lately, it has seemed like a good idea to bomb Schroeder until we identify Hitler's body.

[patriciaruth]

So in the absence of a credible witness or a body, we should assume that this is indeed the case.

I assume that any witnesses in the vicinity of a daisy cutter would have shared Osama's fate, so we may never have witnesses except the one I heard about who said he came back to Osama's cave and the cave was gone.

I believe OBL is dead and I believe the tape was a clever fake, but I am not positive. When the U.S. gov said they thought it was him, my belief took a body blow, but I am still hoping that the 10% chance that it was not him will end up being the reality.

And for those of us who would like to believe the Swiss, they may have millions ($$) of reasons for wanting him declared dead, but may have to wait for seven years to appropriate them.

[Quilla]

Within the past couple of weeks, Sec. Rumsfeld was asked if bin Laden was dead or alive. He simply replied "no" implying he had no opinion one way or the other. The American public is inundated with polls and questions asking "Is bin Laden dead or alive?" For heavens sake, I live in Boonieville, Alabama, how would I be privy to that information. With all due respect, how can you state unequivocally that bin Laden is dead?

[CWRWinger]

The latest audiotape statement attributed to accused terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden is not authentic, a Swiss research institute said.

Bush and company say the tape is the real Bin Laden. Swiss company says the tape is a fake.

The big question, who is lying? Can't have it both ways. Someone is lying.

[mewzilla]

Who cares what the Swiss think?

[Toskrin]

The CIA is going to say whatever is most useful for them to say. They do their analysis of the tape and make a decision on its authenticity. I suspect they also analyze what "official" opinion on the tape's authenticity serves them the best and leak that as their conclusion. The two analyses have little to do with one another.

The NSA and CIA want to give the illusion of incompetence to al Qaeda. They want al Qaeda to distribute more tapes and become less cautious about covering their tracks. Every tape, e-mail, or phone call leaves a signature. Ramzi bin Alshibh was caught after giving an interview to al Jazeera. Daniel Pearl's killers were caught by tracing an e-mail to the Washington Post. The SUV terrorists in Yemen met the devil supposedly by talking on a cell phone.

Keep talking al Qaeda.

[CWRWinger]

Who cares what the Swiss think?

So, do you think the Swiss are lying?

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

Bottom line = I don't think we'll ever know.

In about 30 to 40 years we will be able to safely assume that he has come to the end of his natural life, if it hasn't already come to an unnatural end.

Unlike Elvis and the Loch Ness Monster, he cannot live forever.

[demlosers]

[F-117A]

Ya know, we never did find Hitler's body.

Lately, it has seemed like a good idea to bomb Schroeder until we identify Hitler's body.

LOL - Unfortunately, it may come to that someday.

[F-117A]

The big question, who is lying? Can't have it both ways. Someone is lying.

Not necessarily so. When something is a judgement call, honest people can have differing opinions!

[Media Insurgent]

"Furthermore, the Arab leaders and Al Jazeera certainly knew about the election, and it's not hard to figure out who they were rooting for."

This is an excellent point. Let's not forget that back in the 80s Tip O'Neill & other Democrats were having covert discussions with the Soviets on how to defeat Reagan. Or how about the fact that the Chinese seemed to have a lot of interest in getting Clinton in office and keeping him there. Going back a little further think of how the KGB was funding anti-war groups in the 60s or the German-American Bund which was simply a puppet organization for the Nazis to encourage American isolationalism.

In light of these facts I don't think it's paranoid to assume that foreign governments/entities have a lot riding on who is in power in the U.S. and will do things to influence the outcome of our elections. It's horrible to think that some Americans would participate in these machinations, but as someone else pointed out, there are a lot of Democrats out there who think conservatives are a bigger threat than Al Qaeda.

[Momaw Nadon]

[CharlotteVRWC]

Maybe it's Osama's clone that will be born in January.....

[Mr. K]

"He died in a cave at Tora Bora like we all presumed."

And I always find it amusing to imagine it was with a REALLY LOUD ringing in his ears from the daisy cutters. hee hee hee...