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The bin Laden video tape appears to be legitimate, but that means
little in the Pixar age. One thing is certain: Even native Arab speakers
can't understand most of bin Laden's musings, including those that have been
"translated?" so how did the government's "experts?" The Toronto Sun
observes, "Bin Laden's statements looked cut up and edited..." This isn't an
Islamic berserker speaking, but the most prominent newspaper in Canada.
Did the U.S. government pull ANOTHER fast one? � AC
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"In 1990, the U.S. used retouched satellite photos to convince the
Saudis that Iraq was about to invade - which it was not...."
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Toronto Sun
December 17, 2001
Is the Gun Smoking?
'Experts' Disagree on bin Laden Home Video
by Eric Margolis
�
WASHINGTON -- ... The Osama bin Laden home video released by the U.S. last
Thursday gave a fascinating look at the head of a fanatical Muslim cult
receiving a visiting Saudi sheik. According to the accompanying translation
from Arabic to English - made by the U.S. government and checked by two
U.S.-based Arabic experts - bin Laden clearly appears to voice his
culpability for the suicide attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.
In the most damning admissions, a gleeful-looking bin Laden says, "We
calculated in advance the number of casualties from (sic) the enemy who
would be killed based on the position of the tower." And, "We had
notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place
that day."
The U.S. government is delighted by the smoking gun tape, which was
mysteriously "found" in Afghanistan a few days ago. The White House says the
tape should dispel any lingering doubts bin Laden was behind the Sept. 11
mass killings.
But two other Arabic experts say the tape's audio quality is so poor that
almost nothing bin Laden says on it can be verified. To my ears, well
accustomed to Arabic, half of bin Laden's words were inaudible. The
translation was sometimes out of sync with the action on screen. Bin Laden's
statements looked cut up and edited.
Cynics suggest the tape was a forgery made by Russian intelligence or the
U.S. government, with incriminating statements spliced into an otherwise
boring exchange of pleasantries between bin Laden and a visiting admirer.
This is possible. In 1990, the U.S. used retouched satellite photos to
convince the Saudis that Iraq was about to invade - which it was not....
Some Muslims will certainly accept the tape at face value and turn with
disgust against bin Laden as a fanatical mass murderer. Few Muslims accepted
his wild claims or calls for jihad against the West. But one suspects many
Muslims and other Third Worlders will still believe bin Laden and his
henchmen gave the United States what it deserved, payback for decades of
bloody meddling in their affairs - revenge, as the tape mentioned, for the
"martyrs" of Palestine.
Third Worlders do not always accept our western view that when states kill
huge numbers of innocent civilians, c'est la vie, but when private
enterprise killers strike, that's unacceptable terrorism. [STATE killing is
acceptable terrorism? � AC]
To many, the fanatical Osama bin Laden will still represent the hand of
retribution against the arrogant western powers and their local satraps. New
avengers will follow in his footsteps. Suicide bombers are the poor man's
version of cruise missiles, helicopter gunships, B-52s, fuel-air explosives
and 15,000-lb. bombs.
Copyright � 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership
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