Bin Laden

Originally appeared in a banner ad on an Islamic militant website regularly used by Al-Qaeda on September 6, 2007. The ad carried a picture of Osama bin Laden and the logo of Al-Qaeda’s media production company As-Sahab. An accompanying translated message read “Soon, with the permission of God, a new visual tape, the Sheikh, the Lion, Osama bin Laden. May God protect him.”1 The timing of the video’s release coincided with the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States. Bin Laden’s previous appearance in a video was in 2004. By September 7, 2007, US authorities had managed to obtain a copy of the video, even though it had not been officially released. Several peculiarities in the video raise questions regarding its authenticity: Osama bin Laden sports the trimmer, blacker beard and the same clothing he wore in the 2004-10-29 video. The video freezes at about 1 minute and 58 seconds, and motion only resumes again at 12:30. The video then freezes again at 14:02, and remains frozen until the end. All references to current events, such as the 62nd anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Japan, and Sarkozy and Brown being the leaders of France and the UK, respectively, occur when the video is frozen. The words spoken when the video is in motion contain no references to contemporary events and could have been made before the US invasion of Iraq. It is claimed that the facial features of the person in the video do not correspond to those of the known Osama bin Laden. Transcript “All praise is due to Allah, who built the heavens and earth in justice, and created man as a favor and grace from Him. And from His ways is that the days rotate between the people, and from His Law is retaliation in kind: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and the killer is killed. And all praise is due to Allah, who awakened His slaves’ desire for the Garden, and all of them will enter it except those who refuse. And whoever obeys Him alone in all of his affairs will enter the Garden, and whoever disobeys Him will have refused.” “As for what comes after: Peace be upon he who follows the Guidance. People of America: I shall be speaking to you on important topics which concern you, so lend me your ears. I begin by discussing the war which is between us and some of its repercussions for us and you.” “To preface, I say: despite America being the greatest economic power and possessing the most powerful and up-to-date military arsenal as well; and despite it spending on this war and is army more than the entire world spends on its armies; and despite it being the being the major state influencing the policies of the world, as if it has a monopoly on the unjust right of veto; despite all of this, 19 young men were able – by the grace of Allah, the Most High- to change the direction of its compass. And in fact, the subject of the Mujahideen has become an inseparable part of the speech of your leader, and the effects and signs of that are not hidden.”