New bin Laden Video
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James Joyner | Friday, September 7, 2007 |
A newly released Osama bin Laden video has been released and is being vetted by the intelligence community.
he U.S. government has obtained a new video of Osama bin Laden marking the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and is analyzing it, three officials said Friday.
Several intelligence agencies were looking at the video — the first new images of the terror leader in nearly three years — but no details or conclusions about its message were immediately available, the counterterror and intelligence officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. One of the officials said the government obtained the video only “very recently” and is checking to see if any specific and credible threat information can be gleaned from it.
The Homeland Security Department said Friday it had no credible information warning of an imminent threat to the United States, and analysts noted that al-Qaida tends to mark the Sept. 11 anniversary with a slew of messages.
Analysts also are trying to determine whether it is, in fact, Osama bin Laden on the tape. But one intelligence official said there has never been one of these tapes that has proven not to be authentic. The government also is looking at bin Laden’s physical characteristics — in part, for clues about his health after unconfirmed rumors earlier this year that he had died of kidney disease.
Well, one would think the tape would dispel those rumors.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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James,
I'm not sure the tape dispels the rumors. How hard would it be for you to make a series of tapes that refer to the xth anniversary of 9/11, had vaguely worded references to attacks in various cities and countries and then added a variety of AQ and democratic talking points?
Then have your editor splice together the appropriate pieces to make a "new tape" that contained specific references to "recent events".
I suspect I could use the existing Bin Ladin tapes and make a reasonable stab at it now.
According to "officials" via MSNBC the video was "leaked" early and all of the Jihadi websites that carry this stuff suddenly went down. Not sure what to make of that.
The officials also claim that in the video, UBL criticizes the democrats for not stopping the war in Iraq. I suspect that if UBL is waiting on the Dems to rescue the jihadis he may be waiting a while. Their still trying to figure themselves out.
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