Bin Laden expert skeptical about
latest purported bin Laden tape
by Amber Rupinta, WTDV-TV -- Durham, NC
Jan. 19, 2006
A Duke professor says he is doubtful about Thursday's audiotape from Osama bin Laden.
Bruce Lawrence has just published Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden, a book translating bin Laden's writing. He is skeptical of Thursday's message.
Comment by Madeline Zane: Did you notice how the stories all ran 3-year-old photos of Bin Laden and all forgot to mention that this was only an AUDIO TAPE? Any doofus with a couple hundred dollars worth of computer equipment can splice together an audio tape, you morons.
Comment by Cheryl Seal: Back in 2002, the Bush administration was chagrined when the world's foremost voice identification experts, a group in Switzerland called IDIAP analyzed several Bin Laden tapes and concluded that a "CIA-verified" bin Laden tape was NOT bin Laden, but someone whose voice patterns resembled the terrorist's.
Now again we have a bin Laden tape that arrives just when Bush needs a "terrorist diversion." And once again, we have only the CIA "experts" verifying the authenticity.
So why since 2002 hasn't the IDIAP been called in to verify these always conveniently timed tapes? And why is no CIA expert ever actually named?
And as further evidence of how closely the US media is colluding with Bush, journalists who once queried the institute for their opinion on the authenticity of bin Laden tapes are no longer doing so.
"It was like a voice from the grave," Lawrence said.
He has doubts about the tape, and thinks bin Laden is dead. Lawrence recently analyzed more than 20 complete speeches and interviews of the al Qaida leader for his book. He says the new message is missing several key elements.
"There's nothing in this from the Koran. He's, by his own standards, a faithful Muslim," Lawrence said. "He quotes scripture in defense of his actions. There's no quotation from the Koran in the excerpts we got, no reference to specific events, no reference to past atrocities."
While the CIA confirms the voice on the tape is bin Laden's, Lawrence questions when it was recorded. He says the timing of its release could be to divert attention from last week's US air strike in Pakistan. The strike targeted bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, and [reportedly] killed four leading al Qaeda figures along with civilians.
Lawrence believes faulty Pakistani intelligence led to the strike and the civilian deaths, and the tape was leaked by Pakistani authorities to divert attention from their mistake.
"It led to a failed military operation where America got blamed, but they people who are really to blame are the ones who provided the intelligence," Lawrence said. "I think this is an effort to say were not going look at this terrible incident that happened."
Another element that Lawrence takes issue with in bin Laden's latest message is it's length -- only 10 minutes. Previously, the shortest was 18 minutes.
Of course not. Nobody will know the answers until there's an open and honest investigation.
But anyone courageous enough to think can see that the pertinent questions for any serious "investigation" were never asked, let alone answered, by the official investigators.
