Osama Bin Laden To Issue Video On 9/11 Anniversary

Osama Bin Laden to Issue Video on 9/11 Anniversary

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...Zg8&refer=home

By Jeff Bliss

Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden will issue a video message to the American people on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a Washington- based terrorist-watchdog group.

The Site Intelligence Group showed an image of bin Laden sporting a full, dark beard that it said was from the new video and was found on radical Islamic Web sites.

Site was founded in 2002 to monitor and infiltrate terrorist groups, according to Source Watch, a project of the Madison, Wisconsin-based Center for Media and Democracy.

There have been no confirmed sightings of bin Laden since he escaped U.S.-led forces in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in December 2001. Mansour Dadullah, a Taliban commander in Afghanistan, said in a video last month that bin Laden is "extremely healthy and active.''

The Bush administration said in its latest National Intelligence Estimate last month that al-Qaeda, the group that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, is regaining strength in Pakistan and honing its tactics in Iraq.

The State Department is offering as much as $25 million for information leading to bin Laden's capture.

Al-Qaeda's media production group, as-Sahab, announced the new video in an online statement, said IntelCenter, an organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, that monitors extremist Web sites.

Am I wrong or is this the first video of him they have released since that pathetiv attemp to make us think that was him in the last one? Took them one hell of a long time to find a better method actor...

Just in time for General Petraeus' report.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by beltman713

Just in time for General Petraeus' report.

---

Yep.

And yet again it is the Site Intelligence Group that notifies the media of an al-Qaeda video.

At their website, SITE lists what it calls its "staff" (which is all of 2 people, both with connections to DHS). The second person, Devon, comes from SAIS. They have an interesting history.


Our Staff

Rita Katz, Director and co-founder of the SITE Institute, has studied, tracked, and analyzed international terrorists and their financial operations for several years. Since well before September 11, she has personally briefed government officials, including former terrorism czar Richard Clarke and his staff in the White House, as well as investigators in the Department of Justice, Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Homeland Security on the financing and recruitment networks of the terrorist movement. Many of her leads have prompted the government to investigate and take legal action against individuals and organizations suspected of ties to terrorism.

Before founding the SITE Institute in 2002, Ms. Katz served as Research Director of the Investigative Project in Washington, DC. Born in Iraq and a graduate of the Middle Eastern Studies program at Tel Aviv University, Katz speaks both Arabic and Hebrew with native fluency.

Ms. Katz is the author of TERRORIST HUNTER: The Extraordinary Story of a Woman who Went Undercover to Infiltrate the Radical Islamic Groups Operating in America (HarperCollins, 2003). Her commentary on terrorism issues frequently appears in prominent media outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, 60 Minutes, CNN, and The Wall Street Journal.

Josh Devon, Senior Analyst and co-founder of the SITE Institute, focuses on the research and analysis of the global terrorist network. He has consulted on terrorism-related investigations for several government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the FBI. Mr. Devon has published numerous articles on terrorism, including the extensive use of the Internet by terrorist groups and their followers worldwide. He appears regularly in the media. Mr. Devon has a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Master's Degree in International Relations, concentrating in Middle East Studies, at Johns Hopkins University's School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Terrorist Hunter

US government examines Bin Laden video

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_gove..._09072007.html

Published: Friday September 7, 2007

The US government is analyzing a copy of the latest video message said to be made by elusive Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden for the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, top US officials said Friday.

"I can confirm that USG has the video and it is currently being analyzed," a senior US administration official told AFP, referring to the US government.

Bin Laden is said to have made a new videotape to mark Tuesday's anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks blamed on his Al-Qaeda terror network.

The video, reported late Thursday by US services that monitor militant websites, would be the first such appearance by the Saudi extremist since October 2004, when he threatened new attacks against the United States just days before a US election.

The Al-Qaeda network's media arm, as-Sahab, announced the video in a notice posted on jihadist forums at about 2115 GMT, according to SITE, a group which monitors extremist websites.

"Soon, God willing, a videotape from the lion sheikh Osama bin Laden, God preserve him," the notice in Arabic read.

A website used by Islamist militants that carried the notice showed a photo of bin Laden in which his black beard did not have the usual streaks of gray.

He was also not wearing a camouflage jacket as in some previous appearances. Instead, the top-half photo showed him wearing a white robe topped by a beige cloak, similar to the traditional dress of men in the Gulf region, and looking more like a Muslim cleric than a fighter.

The video of the soft-spoken Al-Qaeda leader, who has claimed credit for the 9/11 attacks, will be examined intently with every word and visual detail dissected by intelligence agencies in Washington and around the world.

Bin Laden, who has had a number of audiotapes attributed to him since his last video appearance, has avoided capture since the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people.

He has since inspired an eruption of anti-Western attacks while his Al-Qaeda network has repeatedly threatened to attack US targets again.

Frances Townsend, the US president's homeland security adviser, said any video message would be followed closely and that the capture of bin Laden remained a top priority.

"Obviously, it's a huge priority for us to capture and kill bin Laden and bring he and the rest of the leadership to justice," she told CNN television Thursday.

"We're being manipulated every time that they issue a statement, because they're trying to use the media as a way to terrorize us."

While other senior figures had been tracked down, "there is no greater target on our Al-Qaeda list than bin Laden," Townsend said.

She said that while public statements from Al-Qaeda were monitored, authorities were most concerned about disrupting terrorist conspiracies.

"What I take far more seriously are the plots," she said, citing recent arrests in Germany and Denmark involving alleged terrorist threats.

President George W. Bush declared a "war on terror" after 9/11 and said he wanted bin Laden "dead or alive," but the Al-Qaeda chief disappeared after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan to topple Al-Qaeda's Taliban allies.

He has since popped up on videos and audio messages to rail against the United States and its allies.

Widely believed to have slipped away during a December 2001 battle in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains, bin Laden is now thought to be hiding in the remote tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Another US-based monitor of extremist websites, IntelCenter, said Thursday it expected the video to be released within 72 hours. It noted that as-Sahab usually releases one video or more to commemorate the 9/11 attacks.

Indeed, "a release by Osama bin Laden has been expected for much of this year," it said.

Separate from the notice promoting bin Laden's latest video message, monitors said an extremist forum included a reference to a "gift" coming on the 9/11 anniversary.

An analyst at the SITE Intelligence Group said the "gift" was most likely referring to the bin Laden video or another online propaganda item and not an imminent attack on US soil.

Born in 1957 in Saudi Arabia into a family that originated from Yemen, bin Laden fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and embraced the idea of Muslims uniting against the West.

In Afghanistan, he commanded and financed his own brigade of militants that evolved into Al-Qaeda.

"We're being manipulated every time that they issue a statement, because they're trying to use the media as a way to terrorize us."

Who's decision is it to air the video? Who says the entire media spectrum has to cover it? I wish I could get that kind of media attention.

Nice of him to release it early enough for the US to analyze it first. And let there be no mistake about WHO is releasing it for the 9/11 anniversary!

Notice how he admits to 9/11 again in the transcript too.

I really didn't get that from it. IMO he left it kinda vague.