Bin Laden Tape Is Old Material - French Expert

Reuters ^ | Sept 11,2003 | NA

[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.

[Dog Gone]

If they faked any of it (which they did by re-releasing old audio), then they faked all of it, at least as it pertains to OBL.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Jacquard said some of the bin Laden pictures may even date from before the December 2001

Mansoor Ijaz (sp?) pointed out on Fox yesterday, that one very telling component of the video, was that Bin Laden's beard was LESS WHITE in the new video, than it was in the last one.

The only conclusion can be that this supposed new one, in actuality, pre-dates the old one.

IMHO, Bin Laden sleeps with the fishes.

[Grampa Dave]

I wonder how much the haters of America and the gold bugs who hate good stock markets in the US and the world, paid to have that tape brought out. I looked at yesterday's dip as a buying opportunity.

"Jim, he's dead, and he's been dead since December of 2001!"

[finnman69]

He's dead Jim.

[Dog]

What does that tell us??

[Grampa Dave]

Ben Laden never made it to sleep with the fishes.

He assumed cave temperature in December 2001. Then in the spring, the maggots, jackals and buzzards took care of what little was left of him.

[ido_now]

"Bin Ladan is dead."

Is, was, and forever shall be, unless the CIA is cloaning his DNA so we can kill him again.

Ditto Saddam.

Bravo for being brave enough to state the obvious.

[Semper Paratus]

Bin Laden's beard was LESS WHITE in the new video

Maybe the "Fab Five" got to him.
OOOOO Osama, you look like you live in a cave.

[rintense]

Agreed. He's dust.

[Grampa Dave]

You are probably right with this remark:

Conclusive Proof Bin Ladin is Dead:

The French haven't surrendered to him.

[Dirk McQuickly]

Dead or not, his image and legacy is still a vehicle for inciting terrorism. I believe there was another such "message from Osama" just prior to the oil tanker bombing and the attempt on the Israeli airliner in Kenya.

I think the Bush admin. doesn't trumpet any veracity to the "Osama is dead" consensus because doing so would only relax the urgency of destroying the rest of al Qaeda -- which has shown it still operates with great "skill" worldwide.

Osama dead; Osama alive -- it doesn't matter. His actions on 9/11 are a call to battle for al Qaeda that won't end until they are obliterated.

[CrystalClear]

with Elvis and Bill Clinton's supposedly dead mother...

[Choose Ye This Day]

Maybe he's just sleeping. Pining for the fjords. (Monty Python)

Or perhaps he's just "mostly dead," (Princess Bride)

[txrangerette]

Either dead or in deep, deep
hiding. It seems undeniable, the
mad Egyptian doctor is the only
one doing/saying anything recent.
But why all the reports of our
having bin Laden pinpointed in a
40 sq. mi.-Pakistani tribal area?
Especially ballyhooed by ABC? So
what's up with that?

[BOBTHENAILER]

I looked at yesterday's dip as a buying opportunity.

You and me both, you evil wicked capitalist.

"Jim, he's dead, and he's been dead since December of 2001!"

As you said on the other post. The worms, maggots and other vermin cleaned up what little was leftover after the JDAM scattered the worthless scum in a few thousand pieces.

[ASA Vet]

[CaptSkip]

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.

The more the arabs cut/paste/edit/splice to "prove" OBL is alive, the more sure I become that OBL is "room-temp" or close to it.

[SierraWasp]

Please note the bottom line on this scrolling news item:

9:50AM Stocks bounce slightly at open ($INDU, $COMPQ, $SPX) by Tomi Kilgore

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- The Dow industrials ($INDU) rose 10 points to 9,430, with 23 of 30 components gaining ground, after sliding 166 points over the past two trading sessions. The gains come despite an unexpected rise in weekly jobless claims, and analyst downgrades of components IBM (IBM) and DuPont (DD). The Nasdaq Composite ($COMPQ) was up 9 points at 1,833 and the S&P 500 Index ($SPX) ticked up 4 points to 1,015, after sliding 65 points and 21 points, respectively in the past two sessions. In the broad market, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1,668 to 944 margin on the NYSE and by a 1,268 to 1,087 score on the Nasdaq exchange. Of the three major stock indexes, only the Nasdaq was trading above the closing levels on Sept. 10, 2001. The Dow closed that day at 9,606, the Nasdaq closed at 1,695 and the S&P 500 closed at 1,093.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Maybe the "Fab Five" got to him.

Good one.

[RippleFire]

He's taking a dirtnap