Is It? Or Isn’t It?
Only the pentagon knows for sure.
A few bloggers are asking some hard questions about the recent bin Laden video, I’m gonna leave this one at the top for a while, update it as more rolls in, and see where it goes.
unrepentant old hippie first brought this to my attention
I think so. Mostly because he’s wearing the exact same clothes he was wearing in his last (2004) video. It’s just too much of a coincidence: surely after 3 years he’d be wearing something different. Or at least not exactly the same. And double-surely any guy who’s appearance-conscious enough to dye his beard would be wearing something different. A different robe, a different shirt, something. And the background — the same plain matte brownish-coloured background, except the new video has a greener tone. But guess what: so does OBL! Look at him, he looks green.
unrepentant old hippie links the Booman Tribune which notes
Osama Bin Laden’s widely publicized video address to the American people has a peculiarity that casts serious doubt on its authenticity: the video freezes at about 1 minute and 36 58 seconds, and motion only resumes again at 12:30. The video then freezes again at 14:02 remains frozen until the end. All references to current events, such as the 62nd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan, and Sarkozy and Brown being the leaders of France and the UK, respectively, occur when the video is frozen! The words spoken when the video is in motion contain no references to contemporary events and could have been (and likely were) made before the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
– and Lew Rockwell poses the interesting question
What has led the conservatives and their media flacks into such a frenzy following the emergence of a videotape purportedly made by Osama bin Laden? Are we being prepared for pre-Halloween trick-or-treating, or ought we be genuinely bothered about his continued presence in the world?
Quite frankly, given some of the stunts that the Bush administration has pulled over the years, there is lots of room for doubt….. keeping America afraid is what has kept them in power, and there is an election coming in which they are not fore casted to perform very well.
Update 1: Another one on the way
A second tape from Osama bin Laden was recorded in the same location as the video released last week.
People in the intelligence community who have seen the tape feel it is directly related to the 9/11 anniversary since the al Qaeda leader introduces the prerecorded martyrdom video of one of the 9/11 hijackers, Waleed al Shehri.
Wonder if he’s still wearing the same cloths?
Update 2: Alex Constantine’s Blacklist has some pictures
“See the picture [left]? The guy on the right is Osama bin Laden. Who’s the guy on the left? According to the government, it’s Osama bin Laden.
Update 3: Rightwing Nuthouse has doubts
Funny that the CIA concludes that it’s Bin Laden on the tape but never mentions – or perhaps didn’t catch – the freeze framed video. It is hugely significant because as Maschke points out, all of the topical references that “prove†the tape is recent are uttered when the “video†is in freeze frame.
Update 4: Ya just knew KoS would be there
First, the background (including MSM links):
Update 5: How surrprised are you to see the VNN blaming Israel?
Adam Pearlman, a hardcore Jewish Zionist who once wrote stinging essays condemning Muslims as “bloodthirsty terrorists,” has been identified as the scriptwriter of the latest Osama Bin Laden video.
Update 6: A picture and some video
Here’s an 1998 image of Osma bin Laden from an MSNBC article
Here is the latest video
You tell me, does that pudgy faced guy in the video look anything at all like the one in the photo?
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I’m of the opinion that not only is the video a blatant fake, but that OBL is dead, and has been for some time.
What JJ said in her post following the one you referenced here — “…the people in a position to manipulate us realized there was more money to be made from pants-pissing fear than courageous solidarity.” — does everything to reinforce my belief that Bin Laden actually was blown to bits by a bombing raid a few years ago. There were a couple of very brief reports about it on the radio, and then all mention of it disappeared. Just went away. Never to be referred to again. And, above all, never to be acknowledged as a credible “story.”
Fakefakefake. Bin Laden is probably a ghost.
There was an audio tape he put out about a year or 2 ago, addressing his followers. He said something to the effect of “keep up the fight, whether I’m around or not” and after that he disappeared and his right-hand man did all the videos. So he may have been sick. That and a few other things, like the CIA closing their OBL office, make me think he’s toast.
But he’s very valuable to Bush, so there’s no way we’d ever find out about it. The long-term benefits of keeping OBL “alive” far outweigh the short-term benefits of letting the world know he’s dead. Once he’s dead, that’s it — yahoo, yahoo, then he’s history, no longer spinnable.
The tape is fake and OBL’s toast. IMO!;)
I’ve been saying for years that Bin Laden was killed in the early stages of our invasion of Afghanistan. In fact, I think I’ve even said that in comments here, and probably readers were skeptical. But, I’ve always figured the intel community believes it is in the country’s best interest to have his followers believe Bin Laden is alive. As long as they are awaiting instructions from him, then perhaps they are not taking as much action as they otherwise would. Someone would rise up to fill the leadership void. It’s in the interest of Al Qaeda to keep the world thinking he’s alive as well. As for the videos, probably nearly all of them were faked after the invasion of Afghanistan, which our intel service knows. As to their being the ones that faked the videos, well, that hadn’t actually occurred to me, but I wouldn’t rule it out of the realm of possibility.
I would argue that it is in the best interests of the current administration to have bin Laden thought to be alive because he’s a really good bogeyman