Even though I'm extremely busy today and tomorrow, I had thought to write up something about bin Laden's latest audiotape on Iraq. There's already been quite a bit said about it, usually along the lines of bin Laden's admitting al-Qaeda's current dismal condition in Iraq. I suspected that there was more going on, given the huge amount of discussion and commentary in the forums lately about the future of the Islamic State of Iraq, Hareth al-Dhari's recent controversial statement that al-Qaeda was not beyond the pale, and the interesting reaction to the tape by the new Political Council of the Iraqi Resistance. But all I had was the al-Jazeera excerpts, like most everyone else. So I went to download the full tape, at the suggestion of a friend, and found this included in the al-Sahab release:
ملاحظة / ننشر
هذه الكلمة كاملة بعد ما اعتراها من تزييف للحقائق و تحوير للمقاصد و
تلبيس للأهداف من قناة الجزيرة الفضائية التي ضربت بعرض الحائط جميع أسس
الشرف المهني الاعلامي .
(English and exciting colors in the original). Maybe I'll listen to the whole thing before offering any commentary.
Ho, I always suspected al Jazeerah was a CIA/Mossad front.
Posted by: bb | October 23, 2007 at 04:36 PM
May I ask where you located the full as-Sahab release?
Posted by: Aaron R | October 23, 2007 at 06:31 PM
It's up now at muslm.net and probably other places as well. About 33 minutes all told, and quite high quality.
Posted by: aardvark | October 23, 2007 at 07:14 PM
All right. So it reads contrary to how it had been interpreted by numerous commentators as a step away from the ISI, and isn't a reconciliatory as it had been presented. So, what was Al Jazeera trying to do? Rehabilitate OBL? Moderate him? Humble him through misrepresentation (which really doesn't make any sense)? I don't quite understand their motivation in this episode.
Posted by: Doug | October 23, 2007 at 10:54 PM