New Osama Bin Laden Video Reportedly Released (updated)
IntelCenter, one of the groups which searches for and translates terrorists' videos, is announcing the reported release of a new Osama Bin Laden video, which would be the first such sighting in over a year. The problem is that no reliable media source has the video as of this posting. Evan Kohlmann told me that there has been no prior announcement by Al Qaeda of the release of this video, as has been Al Qaeda's standard practice. (UPDATE at 4:45 pm ET: Anonymous U.S. counterterrorism official says U.S. authorities are viewing it skeptically. UPDATE 5:40 pn ET: "A CIA official told ABC News the report was seen this morning, but have no idea if it is credible. He said nobody in the U.S. intelligence community has seen the tape.") With IntelCenter's permission (which I appreciate), I am reprinting the entire text of their e-mail release on the video, as follows:
A new video has reportedly been released showing Osama bin Laden sitting with Taliban Commander Mullah Dadollah. The video was obtained by the Pajhwok news agency in Kandahar Province on 13 Dec. On the video, which is at least 30 minutes long, Dadollah is seen sitting next to Osama bin Laden. A masked fighter is also present who translates Dadollah's comments into Arabic. On the video Dadollah speaks for about 30 minutes. Osama bin Laden also speaks but it is unclear for how long. The video also reportedly shows operational footage from Afghanistan. On the video Dadollah says, "We have unwavering faith in God. Now that we have acquired new weapons, we will defeat the enemy the way we defeated the Russians." He adds, "Only Muslims have the courage to carry out suicide attacks. Infidels neither have the ability nor the courage to stop this. Our young people are ready to sacrifice their lives to establish a divine order." He says their fighters have executed suicide attacks in Kandahar, Jalalabad, Kabul, Mazar-e Sharif, Herat and Khost.
Osama bin Laden reportedly calls on Muslims to wage jihad and says they will continue fighting until they achieve their objectives. He says the objectives are to establish an Islamic order in the world, eliminate injustice and liberate occupied Islamic land. He calls on the Muslim youth to launch suicide attacks. IntelCenter has not yet obtained the video and is working to do so. However, based upon our initial analysis of the video description by the Pajhwok news agency, IntelCenter is working under the assumption that the video exists and is new. Final confirmation can only be provided once we obtain the actual video itself.
The appearance of Osama bin Laden with a Taliban commander is consistent, although an even further elevation, of the new high prominence being given to the Taliban since this summer. Prior to this video the most notable instances were in Ayman al-Zawahiri's videos on 19 Sep. and 10 Dec. New patterns of activity on both the messaging and operational fronts of al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan began around July. This escalated level of activity includes significantly higher levels of martyrdom operations in Afghanistan, which would fit with Dadollah's comments about such operations.
Claims by the Taliban of having acquired new weapons go back to 18 Nov. when Taliban spokesman Mullah Abdolhai Motmaen called the Afghan Islamic Press and read the following statement: "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Statement of the Taliban's Islamic Movement. As the mujahideen of the Taliban's Islamic Movement have gained some defense capability and are becoming stronger, we hope that those countries which are not considered responsible for the occupation and invasion of our country, will prevent all their planes that are not part of international airlines from entering Afghanistan's airspace so that we will not attack them. It is difficult for our defense officials to distinguish between the planes of the enemy and friends." A second part of the statement said, "We call on all national and international traders not to supply equipment to foreign invaders using their vehicles or using private companies in Afghanistan so that the mujahideen will not attack members of their companies or their vehicles. Otherwise, the mujahideen will attack them and consider any vehicle supplying equipment to the American or coalition forces their enemy. Regards, The Taliban's Islamic Movement, 18 November 2005." The Afghan Islamic Press asked for clarification as to what countries the Taliban believed were responsible for invading Afghanistan and Motmaen replied, "Those countries, which have played a key role in this regard, such as America, Britain and etc." They also asked Motmaen whether they meant passenger planes of travel airlines and he said, "Yes, they are identifiable such as Ariana, Kam Air, Saudi Airlines and etc. that carry passengers."
These continued significant changes in al-Qaeda and Taliban messaging and operations point to an increased level of effort by the jihadists in Afghanistan that is likely to continue to exhibit itself in the form of an increased operational tempo there and/or an increase in the scale and types of attacks being executed.
Analysis is ongoing and subject to change as new details become available.
SNIP
http://counterterror.typepad.com/the_counterterrorism_blog/2005/12/new_osama_bin_l.html#more
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