New OBL Tape

[*jr]

Terra Terra Terra! Run back to your houses....get duct tape and plenty of plastic sheeting.....Seal all doors....Terra, terra, terra.

-----------------------------------------------

Source: Yahoo news

By Randall Mikkelsen
1 hour, 10 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has obtained a copy of a purported new videotape of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and is studying it, U.S. officials said on Friday.


"We can confirm that the U.S. government has the video and it is being analyzed," one official said on condition of anonymity.

An Islamist Web site said earlier on Friday it would soon show a new video of bin Laden -- the first in nearly three years -- to mark the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The Web site published a still photograph apparently from the video, which showed bin Laden looking older than in previously available pictures. However, a photo that Western analysts said accompanied the video announcement showed bin Laden's beard black rather than gray as in pictures from recent years.

Al Jazeera television said the footage, produced by al Qaeda's media arm, was likely to be shown within 72 hours.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070907/ts_ ... en_tape_dc

[Ina Baxar]

It's all about the buzz created before the damned things comes out .
These guys know the game

[*jr]

Yep, just in time for Sept. 11th and just before the long awaited Iraq surge report due in Sept. 15. Hmmmm, nothing like a little fear to bring the sheeple back in line.

[Ina Baxar]

Wooow, I seriously don't follow you there.
I don't buy your theory son . You see one thing that's kinda cool with the US is that , not a whole lot is really kept REALLY secret.
I'm pretty sure if this was a governement orchestrated shyte , someone somewhere would blow the whistle , specially in these pre- election times.
No what I think is , Al Qaeda and Bin Laden soon to be aired video tape is just another pretty boring shyte that we've already seen and heard time and again . But in order to create interest one's gotta approach the thing differently . Now by announcing that A TAPE is about to be released , it creates a speculative talk and attention , kinda like what Hollywood does , if you know what I am saying

[*jr]

Ina Baxar,

Are you saying there is no coincidence? Every time there is major event whether they are elections or congressional report, OBL is so happens to pop out of nowhere. This is more than just coincidence, wouldn’t you agree?

[Ina Baxar]

Hmmm, coincidence is a merely a scientifical anomaly , huh?
Shaky grounds son !! You're flirting with those who reject God

[*jr]

[quote="Ina Baxar"]Hmmm, coincidence is a merely a scientifical anomaly , huh?
Shaky grounds son !! You're flirting with those who reject God [/quote]

WHAT!!! What are you saying? can you elaborate?

[Ina Baxar]

Seriously I don't think the US can produce a tape of Bin Laden and give it to Al Jazeera .
Just doesn't make sense.

[*jr]

[quote="Ina Baxar"]Seriously I don't think the US can produce a tape of Bin Laden and give it to Al Jazeera .
Just doesn't make sense.[/quote]

and a terrible one at that, amateurs! But seriously, i find the whole OBL tapes suspecious. I mean, there's that blasted phrase "Islamic Websites" again, and again. Why won't they tell us the URLs of these so called "Islamist websites"? Are they afraid we might learn something about where these websites are registered and run?

[Somali_4Life]

Oke... hmm... thats right... Another tape hmm...
BORINGG,f*ck all these tapes made by hollywood.

[*Arabman]

Yawnnn. I concur; another boring tape.

[Grant]

While I am not surprised by the reaction of this board to the OBL video, I think everyone needs to be aware of the probable western reaction to that reaction.

Early Christianity, National Socialism, Communism, Capitalism etc. share certain features with "Islamism"( which is not the same as Islam). There is a psychology of adherents to these movements that is consistant regardless of the particular ideology. It operates through historical revision and the selective denial of evidence.

The classic statement of this psychology is by Eric Hoffer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer

"The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements ISBN 0-06-050591-5 was Eric Hoffer's first and most successful book, published in 1951. It discusses the psychological causes of fanaticism.

The premise of the book is as follows: Mass movements spread by promising a glorious future, and they need people to be willing to sacrifice all for that future, including themselves and others. To do that, they need to devalue both the past and the present. Therefore, mass movements appeal to the frustrated; people who are dissatisfied with their current state, but are capable of a strong belief in the future and to people who want to escape a flawed self by creating an imaginary self and joining a compact collective whole to escape themselves. Some categories of such people are the poor, the misfits, the creative thwarted in their endeavors, the inordinately selfish, the ambitious facing unlimited opportunities, minorities, the bored, and sinners. The book also explores the behavior of mass movements once they become established (or leave the "active phase").

With their collapse of a communal framework people can no longer defeat the feelings of insecurity and uncertainty by belonging to a compact whole. If the isolated individual lacks vast opportunities for personal advancement, development of talents, and action (such as those found on a frontier), he will seek substitutes. These substitutes would be pride instead of self-confidence, memberships in a collective whole like a mass movement, absolute certainty instead of understanding.

The True Believer evaluates (and sometimes disparages) Communists, Fascists, Nationalists, and early Christians. Part of Hoffer's thesis is that movements are interchangeable and that fanatics will often flip from one movement to another.

Hoffer does not take an exclusively negative view of "true believers" and the mass movements they begin. Examples he gives of positive true believers are Abraham Lincoln and Gandhi. There are also positive reflections in the final sentence of the book."
---------------------------------------------

I want to emphasize this quotation:

"These substitutes would be pride instead of self-confidence......., absolute certainty instead of understanding."

Sound familiar?

What's wrong, Arabman, need another cup of coffee this morning?

[*Arabman]

[What's wrong, Arabman, need another cup of coffee this morning?]

I prefer shaah ranji, sometimes cadees. Eric Hoffer's statement isn't a scientific evidence; there are hundreds/thousands Eric Hoffers who got their own different statements. Besides, it's you who is linking Eric's statement to "Islamism", not him. Hoffer's theories and thesis are only applicable to Christians or non-Muslims (Communists, Fascists, Nationalists, and early Christians).

[Grant]

Arabman,

Ranji or cadees, shah has caffein. Drink a bit more and wake up!


"A Repackaged Bin Laden Plays Mind Games with Western Audience

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis
September 8, 2007, 11:10 PM (GMT+02:00)

Al Qaeda’s leader, Osama bin Laden presented a brushed up new image in his first video speech in three years on September 8. His style had changed too as he bid to challenge President George W. Bush’s recent assertions that the West is engaged in a long ideological war with Islamist extremism.
In his 25-minute speech, bin Laden borrowed the comparison President Bush drew between the Vietnam and the Iraqi Wars in addressing Veterans of Foreign Wars on Aug. 22 and compared the civilian casualties of the two conflicts. His object was to show that the same people – he named Donald Rumsfeld - were responsible for both calamities.

Bin Laden for the first time adopted the Western mode of comparative figures in his rhetoric. He also made a point of turning American symbols against their leaders to show he was a match for their president in the ideological arena too. There was a suggestion that his speech had Western input – the American jihadi Adam Gadahn was mentioned - and was tailored to impress Western, especially American, audiences and prepare their minds for embracing his brand of jihadist Islam. Certainly his neatly trimmed and fashionably darkened beard, his immaculate silken robes and sophisticated oratory were in sharp contrast to the harsh, out-of-the-desert, Koran-thumping Osama bin Laden, who inflamed Muslim masses seven years ago when he gloated over his mass murder of Americans.

Has the repackaged bin Laden lost his Islamist charisma? His most effective and authentic videotape was discovered by US forces near Kabul in 2001 and released on 13 December, 2001, four months after the 9/11
atrocities. He was shown gleefully explaining to Saudi clerics (see picture) how he, as a construction engineer, calculated the exact force of the two airliners which rammed the World Trade Center of New York. He had counted on their flaming impact melting the steel supports of the towers and toppling three or four floors. Much to his surprise and evident joy the towers collapsed in their entirety.

Six years later, he invokes the trendy issue of global warning.
“This greatest of plagues and most dangerous of threats to the lives of humans is taking place in an accelerating fashion as the world is dominated by the democratic system, which confirms its massive failure to protect humans and their interests from the greed and avarice of the major corporations and their representatives. “And despite this brazen attack on the people, the leaders of the West – especially Bush, Blair, Sarkozy and Brown - still talk about freedom… Is there a form of terrorism stronger, clearer and more dangerous than this?”

He trashes the capitalist system as “harsher and fiercer that your systems in
the Middle Ages… under the label of globalization to protect democracy.”
For ending the Iraq war, al Qaeda’s leader has a simple answer: Americans must embrace Islam. But this does not stop him putting his oar into US politics. Asking why the Democrats have failed to stop the war, he
says: “…they are the same reasons which led to the failure of Kennedy to stop the Vietnam War. Since the democratic system permits major corporations to back candidates, there is no cause for astonishment at the Democrats’ failure to stop the war… Money talks.”

It is also interesting to note that al Qaeda’s leader is trying to influence the
US presidential campaign at this early stage. In the past, he made dramatic
statements on election eve. Now, without waiting for the Republicans and the Democrats to select their candidates, bin Laden has focused on the parties themselves, mainly deriding the latter for failing to follow through on its pre-midterm election pledge to bring the troops home from Iraq.

DEBKAfile’s al Qaeda experts say that, while polishing his public persona for
Western consumption, Osama bin Laden has also adopted a new style for his
jihadist following, that of religious guide, supreme mentor, the great ideologue and imam, who leaves crude threats to others.

Many Western pundits claimed that the new speech contained no threats. Our sources caution against falling into this error. They note that al Qaeda’s
leader may have changed his marketing tactics, but not his spots: His diatribe starts with the words: “Praise to Allah and his law of retaliation – ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and the killer is killed.'”
Despite its lack of specific warnings, several security analysts said bin
Laden's video could be a signal to his followers to launch new strikes.
Rohan Gunaratna, a leading authority on militant Islamism, agrees.
"Osama is presenting Koranic injunctions before planning to attack."
He told Reuter Sat. Sept. 8, "Osama's call to the Americans to convert to Islam is indicative of an al Qaeda attack on U.S. targets. Before the Prophet
(Mohammad) attacked his enemies he urged his opponents to embrace Islam."

On the World War II Holocaust of European Jewry, reverts to his ranting style: “We [the Muslims] are a people who don’t sleep under oppression and reject humiliation and disgrace, and we take revenge on the people of tyranny and aggression, and the blood of the Muslims will not be spilled with impunity, and the morrow is nigh for he who waits.”This phrasing fits the fanatical convictions which drove the old, unkempt bin Laden to orchestrate unspeakable carnage.

On Aug. 10, DEBKAfile disclosed exclusively a rush of exchanged messages and instruction on Islamist sites referring in clear terms to the “dirty bomb” or
even nuclear attacks al Qaeda was preparing for the sixth anniversary of 9/11. Our sources spell out the targets as being New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Florida, Seattle and Texas. The orders were signed Abdul Kandahar al Zarqawi and Basialn bin Abdallah a- Salafi al-Shami, <inoms de guerrei> symbolizing, respectively, al Qaeda’s two battle arenas of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the most radical Salafi brand of Sunni Islam and the Levant.
Taken together, the speech and the Internet instructions point to a division of labor between publicists who staged bin Laden’s appearance together with the supreme decision-making elite of al Qaeda, and the field operatives. But there is no sign that Bin Laden’s movement has abandoned any part of its program of terror."

DEBKAfile - We start where the media stop

[*Arabman]

Grant, notice that sheikh Osama didn't admit he was behind 911 in the new video. I wonder why.