U.S. confirms bin Laden audiotape

UPI ^ | February 11, 2003

[Indy Pendance]

Bali suspect re-enacts bombings (Swears Jemaah Islamiah acted alone)

[Vinomori]

Remind me: why don't we know where bin Laden is? Isn't this something the CIA ought to have accomplished by now? It is a small world.

[Dog Gone]

Is the word "partner" actually used in this tape, or is that Powell's characterization?

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

I doubt bin Laden is alive.

[Indy Pendance]

It appears as if this writer is quoting Powell. I didn't hear the tapes, and haven't seen a full transcript.

[Smogger]

It is a small world.

Yeah with only about 6 and a half billion or so people to search it's amazing that they haven't come up with anything yet. ;-)

[bobi]

It must authentic.

It was probably made in house.

[Indy Pendance]

It could be bin laden, but taped earlier.

[Husker24]

I still dont believe Bin Laden is alive, why isnt he on video?

[LS]

OBL is vaporized by the Tora Bora bombing. What we have here is a brilliant strategery by Bush/Powell to, sort of like a reverse "El Cid," keep him alive to a) maintain war focus and b) personalize the AQ-Iraq link.

This is so beautiful: if idiots like Frau Albright say that "Powell's case on Iraq was the weakest part" of his presentation, she now looks like more of a fool. On the other hand, if Al-Jazeera and the other OBL mouthpieces say, "Wait this isn't OBL," we can blow their cover as frauds in the other so-called OBL tape "sightings."

Either way, if "this" OBL is "real," then he is on record as linking AQ and Iraq, so if he gets coverage, it makes Bush/Powell's point. If they don't cover it, the slight forces OBL (if alive) to come out in person to say "Hey, I'm alive."

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

I still dont believe Bin Laden is alive, why isnt he on video?

Ive been thining about this as well and heres my 2 cents if anybody gives a crap.

Which would have a greater effect on people thats hes trying to kill and terrorize. Seeing a video of OBL every otehr day OR seeing a video of him AFTER his cronies attack us again either here or overseas?

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

I still dont believe Bin Laden is alive, why isnt he on video?

Ive been thining about this as well and heres my 2 cents if anybody gives a crap.

Which would have a greater effect on people thats hes trying to kill and terrorize. Seeing a video of OBL every otehr day OR seeing a video of him AFTER his cronies attack us again either here or overseas?

[DoctorMichael]

Okay, lets assume its real. Could Binny, a religious Islamic zealot, be throwing his support to Sadaam, a secular Stalinist, because he's IN Baghdad already, hiding in the basement at one of Sadaam's 200 acre palaces and afraid of getting caught when the US liberates the country?

[Elenya]

I still dont believe Bin Laden is alive, why isnt he on video?

Ditto. If it's him (and it's possible), it's an old tape. BINNY'S DEAD!

[B-bone]

Here's a buy-your-tin-foil-by-the-gross alert theory.

OBL is in custody in Diego Garcia. We need a final nail for Saddam. We arrange for OBL to make a tape implicating Iraq. Powell knows about tape and its contents prior to it being broadcast or even being offically acknowledged.

Screwy theory? Yes.
Likely? Hardly.
It's been a slow afternoon and the mind is idle? Certainly.
He's dead? More likely than the above theory.

[Redcloak]

Uncle Ossama's probably deader than a rotten bowl of couscous, but there's a certain political advantage in agreeing that these tapes are "authentic". It gives us an excuse to go where ever to go hunting the dead guy. Of course, one day this will stretch the limits of believability...

"Is this Ossama?"

"Yup... That's him."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. That's his voice. We'd know it anywhere."

"But it sounds like Gilbert Gottfried."

"That's just a problem on the original tape. It happens all the time."

"Then why does he keep refering to 'Jafar'?"

"It must be an Al Qaeda code word."

"And the 'Genie' references?"

"More code words. We'll need to bomb the place to root out any terrorists."

[Indy Pendance]

I believe it's could be a real tape, but taped earlier, before he was fried in Afghanistan.

[InvisibleChurch]

Have we ever considered blowing up Al-Jazeera?

[over3Owithabrain]

It could be bin laden, but taped earlier.
Yeah, like maybe before the 1991 Gulf War.