- If you have RealAudio, you can listen to some analyses
of the preposterous Osama bin Laden "confession" video.
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- You might detect desperation in the voices of the BBC
interviewers as they seek to dispel doubt about the video's authenticity.
I did.
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1710000/audio/_1710143_tape08_gul.ram
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1710000/audio/_1710143_tape08_gibbons.ram
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- The video itself is here:
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1705000/video/
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- Problems with the tape:
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- - Its poor audio quality (so poor many native Arabic
speakers claim not to be able to make it out) - The English language subtitles
the US government insisted putting on it before releasing it
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- Then there are some other practical concerns:
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- - Why would someone who has managed to so skillfully
elude the US for years and years suddenly become so sloppy about his security
to the point that he would permit a video of a confession to serious crime
be made and then duplicated?
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- (It's especially strange since the only time bin Laden
has been credibly quoted on the subject of 9-11, he categorically denied
involvement in it.)
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- - The conversation is strangely stilted. It's almost
as if it were conducted with the purpose in mind of checking off a check
list of topics that support various cover stories that have been floated
to explain the unexplainable. "Hijackers in the dark as to their real
mission" - check, "Jet fuel expected to burn hot and cause structural
damage" - check. (Too bad Osama didn't explain how he managed to get
the US air defense to stand down that day. Now THAT would have been interesting.)
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- - When would bin Laden and his buddies have had the time
or peace of mind to loll about at a relaxed dinner party between September
11 and now? (When do they say this thing was shot anyway?)
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- - The appearance of this video in an abandoned house
just as the war appears to the in the mop up stage is hugely convenient
and therefore suspicious on the face of it
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- - Why can't bin Laden's personal videographer afford
a better video camera? There's no reason for the quality of the audio to
be so unclear. There's no interfering noise and the distance between the
cameraman and the speakers does not appear to be large. If the point was
to capture the statement of responsibility in order to rally the troops
with a mass duplicated video why not shoot it properly? Surely bin Laden
has the money for a proper camcorder and thanks to a special CIA media
project from the 1980s, there are plenty of old Mujahedin around who know
the ins and outs of shooting battlefield video.
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- The BBC article: "Arabs split on Bin Laden tape"
if read with any degree of care will reveal that the only evidence that
the tape and its translation are authentic is the assurance of unnamed
US government sources. Otherwise, every aspect of this production is open
for study.
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south
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- Is it me or are these guys just getting more and more
preposterous in their attempts to justify themselves? They don't even seem
to be trying to make up good lies any more.
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