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Bin Laden Tape Is Old Material - French Expert
Reuters ^ | Sept 11,2003 | NA

Posted on 09/11/2003 7:13:32 AM PDT by Dog

Bin Laden Tape Is Old Material - French Expert Thu September 11, 2003 09:41 AM ET PARIS (Reuters) - A leading French terrorism expert cautioned Thursday against taking the latest Osama bin Laden video at face value, saying it was largely an edited collection of old footage and sound tracks that have already been aired. Wednesday, the Al Jazeera Arabic television station broadcast a tape of bin Laden and his right hand man Ayman al-Zawahri, in which the al Qaeda leader urges supporters to bury Americans in "the graveyard of Iraq."

But Roland Jacquard, head of the Paris-based International Observatory on Terrorism, told French radio that the tape was above all a show of defiance on the eve of the September 11 anniversary by al Qaeda number two al-Zawahri.

"We have to be extremely prudent about this message," Jacquard told Europe 1 radio.

"Given that Osama bin Laden has not appeared on a video cassette for many months it's pretty incomprehensible that in the only video cassette where he appears beside Ayman al-Zawahri he doesn't speak, he just allows the latter to speak.

"The voice of bin Laden we hear in the background, thanking the World Trade Center plane hijackers, is exactly the same message that was broadcast in a video cassette by Al Jazeera on 26 December 2001," he said.

Al-Zawahri's message was also old and had been broadcast by Dubai's Al Arabiya network on August 3, Jacquard said.

"Above all (this is) a message from the organization's number two, al-Zawahri, who wants to remind the world and the United States on September 11 that he's still around," he added.

Jacquard said some of the bin Laden pictures may even date from before the December 2001 offensive in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains, where U.S. warplanes and their Afghan allies tried to wipe out bin Laden and his associates.

Nevertheless, the latest al-Zawahri soundtrack was recent, as he refers to recent events. But the pictures were old, the French expert said.

Other analysts have said the film appeared to have been taken in April or May.

Despite a massive manhunt launched in the wake of the September 11 attacks that killed more than 3,000 people, bin Laden has evaded capture and is believed to be still alive.

Jacquard said U.S. forces had launched a secret mission in Afghanistan's southeastern Zabul region, where the al Qaeda leader is protected by a local tribe. He said its chief is a major drug trafficker and one of bin Laden's personal doctors.

"(Bin Laden) is probably also protected by Pakistani (secret service) agents who financed him for many years, because each time a military operation is launched in a village where bin Laden is thought to have stayed, he always leaves this place a few days beforehand," Jacquard said.

Pakistan insists it continues to hunt down al Qaeda and other extremists but acknowledges that its porous border with Afghanistan makes tracking them down difficult.


TOPICS: Breaking News; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: binisdead; binladen; binladendeathwatch; osamabinladen; videotape
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Interesting...
1 posted on 09/11/2003 7:13:33 AM PDT by Dog
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To: Dog
Bin Ladan is dead.
2 posted on 09/11/2003 7:14:10 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: Dog Gone; Angelus Errare; Coop
fyi..
3 posted on 09/11/2003 7:14:37 AM PDT by Dog
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To: 1Old Pro
Yep.
4 posted on 09/11/2003 7:15:04 AM PDT by Dog
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To: 1Old Pro
I saw him at Walmart
5 posted on 09/11/2003 7:16:01 AM PDT by woofie
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To: 1Old Pro
Yep...bet a camel on that!
6 posted on 09/11/2003 7:16:53 AM PDT by smiley
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To: Dog
Maybe, maybe not. But I think the phrase French expert is an oxymoron.
7 posted on 09/11/2003 7:17:54 AM PDT by mewzilla
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To: Dog
He looked younger in the footage and it was obvious the audio didn't match the video.
8 posted on 09/11/2003 7:18:41 AM PDT by Peach (The Clintons have pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: mewzilla
Since when do we take advice from the French?
9 posted on 09/11/2003 7:18:54 AM PDT by JudgeSmales
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To: Miss Marple; hchutch; BOBTHENAILER
"(Bin Laden) is probably also protected by Pakistani (secret service) agents who financed him for many years, because each time a military operation is launched in a village where bin Laden is thought to have stayed, he always leaves this place a few days beforehand," Jacquard said.
10 posted on 09/11/2003 7:19:13 AM PDT by Dog
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To: woofie
I saw him at Walmart

No, that was just plain old dust.

11 posted on 09/11/2003 7:19:32 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: JudgeSmales
And why in Hades do they keep offering it?
12 posted on 09/11/2003 7:19:33 AM PDT by mewzilla
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To: Dog
Bin Laden Tape Is Old Material - French Expert

AFAIK, we've not yet seen Osama in a photo/video with any sort of evidence (e.g.,
a current newspaper) to show that he's still alive.

He may still be kickin', but I'm still skeptical.
13 posted on 09/11/2003 7:22:45 AM PDT by VOA
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To: Dog
But, But all morning the media has been screaming headlines about Osama still being around.

"Osama sleeps with the sandworms"

14 posted on 09/11/2003 7:24:01 AM PDT by Semper Paratus
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To: woofie; 1Old Pro
"I saw him at Walmart"

Exactly, proof positive that he is dead!
15 posted on 09/11/2003 7:24:28 AM PDT by ido_now
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To: mewzilla
"And why in Hades do they keep offering it?"

Because it fools the rubes who desperately want to believe?
16 posted on 09/11/2003 7:25:22 AM PDT by thegreatbeast (Quid lucrum istic mihi est?)
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To: Dog
Watching the children on Fox news read the names of those lost at the WTC . . .almost makes me wish Osama is alive: just so I could kill him myself.
17 posted on 09/11/2003 7:26:06 AM PDT by BenLurkin (Socialism is slavery)
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To: Dog; SAMWolf; Poohbah; Constitution Day; Grampa Dave; Zavien Doombringer; 4mycountry
Conclusive Proof Bin Ladin is Dead:

The French haven't surrendered to him.

18 posted on 09/11/2003 7:26:40 AM PDT by jriemer (We are a Republic not a Democracy)
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To: Dog
For awhile after Tora Bora I came to think bin Laden was probably dead. As time went on, I began to think he might be alive.

But this latest submission has convinved me beyond a doubt that bin Laden is not merely dead, he's really most sincerely dead.

19 posted on 09/11/2003 7:27:18 AM PDT by Maceman
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To: mewzilla
It's called "myth making". The man in the recent videotape is much younger (as discussed here yesterday). OBL has been taking a dirt nap for some time now.
20 posted on 09/11/2003 7:27:40 AM PDT by sarasota
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