The first video image of Osama Bin Laden in nearly two years was
broadcast on Al-Jazeera TV on Wednesday, the eve of the second
anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The al-Qaida leader was
shown walking through rocky terrain with his top aide, both
carrying assault rifles.
In an eight-minute audiotape accompanying the video footage, a
speaker identified as bin Laden praises the "great damage to the
enemy" September 11 and mentions five hijackers by name. On a
second tape, a voice said to be that of chief deputy Ayman
al-Zawahri threatens more attacks on Americans and calls on Iraqi
guerrillas to "bury" U.S. troops.
According to terrorism experts, such tapes reassure al-Qaida
sympathizers that the terror network is still a force and its
leaders still active and in seeming good health. A tape showing Bin
Laden would be crucial to that effort and the timing - a day before
the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, blamed on al-Qaida - highly
symbolic.
Al-Jazeera said the tapes were produced in late April or early
May, but the Arab satellite channel did not say how or when it
obtained them. The backdrop in the video resembled the border
regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where U.S. officials
believe bin Laden is hiding out.
U.S. intelligence officials will review the tapes to try to
determine if they are authentic and when and where they were made,
officials in Washington said.
"This is another reminder that they continue to plot to attack
us and to attack freedom," Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the
National Security Council, said Wednesday.
U.S. President Bush, asked about the tape during a tour of
forensics labs at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., said he had not
heard it yet.
Messages from al-Qaida leaders are sometimes viewed as presaging
an attack. Press reports from the Mideast over the last week had
suggested a new Bin Laden video was set to air Wednesday, one U.S.
official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The Department of Homeland Security previously said it did not
plan to raise the national terror threat level above its current
position at yellow, signifying an elevated threat of attack.
The voice identified as Bin Laden praises the September 11
hijackers.
"Those men caused great damage to the enemy and disturbed their
plans," the speaker says, calling them true believers who should
become an ideal for other believers.
He makes no direct threatening remarks, but the voice said to be
al-Zawahri threatens more attacks on Americans.
"What you saw until now are only the first skirmishes,"
al-Zawahri allegedly says in a 12-minute tape. "The true epic has
not begun."
A religious song could be heard in the background of the alleged
Bin Laden audiotape. Both tapes were translated from the Arabic by
The Associated Press.
The video image of Bin Laden appeared to be the first since he
was shown at a dinner with associates on Nov. 9, 2001 in
Afghanistan. That tape was made public a month later.
The tape follows several attributed to other al-Qaida figures
who made a point of saying Bin Laden was still active in the fight
against the West. The last such message, attributed to an al-Qaida
spokesman, was aired on the Arab television station Al-Arabiya
September 7. In August, an audiotape attributed to al-Zawahri also
stressed that Bin Laden was alive and well.
Bin Laden was last heard from on April 7, exhorting Muslims in a
tape obtained by AP to rise up against Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and
other governments he claimed were "agents of America." That
audiotape, which CIA analysts said appeared to be authentic, made a
vague reference to the Iraq conflict, although it was not specific
enough to determine whether it had been recorded before or after
the Iraqi war began on March 20.
The videotape broadcast Wednesday shows Bin Laden and al-Zawahri
dressed in loose-fitting Afghan clothing and flat, rolled brim caps
known as pakuls. They walk slowly up and down a rocky hill dotted
with green plants.
In one shot, Bin Laden, in his late 40s and more than 6 feet
tall, is assisted by a walking stick in his right hand and wears a
blanket over his left shoulder. He showed signs of age since his
last video image two years ago; his beard was whiter.
In several sections of the video, both carry Soviet-made assault
rifles.
The two climb to the hilltop and sit resting, looking out over
trees and rocky outcroppings, the camera behind them. The video
appeared well-planned and well-shot, likely with Bin Laden's full
cooperation, as he looked over his shoulder at the camera several
times.
Neither Bin Laden nor his aide spoke on the video, which
appeared to be shot during the course of one day. The light in each
segment was the same and Bin Laden's clothing was the same. He
appeared to allow the cameraman time to move ahead to get a series
of shots of the al-Qaida leader walking toward the camera. Bin
Laden several times looks over his shoulder, giving the impression
he is being followed. At one point he waves at the camera.
In one scene a small cluster of wildflowers can be seen,
suggesting - given the apparent high altitude at which the video
was shot - that the videotape was made in early summer. At such an
altitude wild flowers would not be blooming in early September.
Al-Jazeera said the film was produced by an Al-Sahhab Co., which
it said was "specialized in general in preparing film material for
al-Qaida."
In an audiotape, the speaker said to be al-Zawahri refers to
U.S. troops in Iraq - an indication that it was made after American
troops entered Iraq last March.
"We salute the mujahedeen brothers in Iraq and press on their
hands and ask Allah to bless their sacrifices and valor in fighting
the crusaders," the speaker says. "We tell you that Allah is with
you and the (Islamic) nation supports you. ... Bury them in the
Iraqi graveyard."
The voice attributed to al-Zawahri also refers to the September
11 anniversary.
"On the second anniversary of the raids on New York and
Washington we challenge America and its crusade, which is teetering
from its wounds in Afghanistan and Iraq," the speaker says. "We
tell them that we do not seek to kill, but we will chop off the
hand which seeks to inflict harm on us, God willing."
Bin Laden is believed to have been in the border region since
December 2001, when U.S. and Afghan troops surrounded a giant cave
complex in the eastern Afghan region of Tora Bora. On Dec. 10,
troops intercepted a radio transmission that was believed to have
come from the al-Qaida leader.
U.S. warplanes blanketed the area with bombs, but the Americans
relied largely on local Afghan forces on the ground. Hundreds of
al-Qaida suspects are believed to have escaped across the border
into Pakistan, and Bin Laden may have been among them.
(China Daily September 11, 2003)