Osama bin Laden video; have you seen it?

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I don't watch the tube. Is it OBL? Is it dubbed? Is it for real? Is it, in your humble opinion, the "smoking gun" Dubya says it is?

Why did Dubya and his ilk decide to release this tape? I thought he was worried about "hidden messages" in OBL tapes, and didn't want them aired...

JOJ

-- joj (jump@off.c), December 14, 2001

Answers

I have seen excerpts from the tape but I don't understand arabic so can't comment on the translation however the handmovements and gestures do appear to match the message being given. The tape is very poor quality and reported to have been 'found' in a house in Jalalabad. Technically, it could easily be a total fake but I just don't know.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), December 14, 2001.

It appears to be real, but in this day and age what is real and what is not can be quite confusing. From what news people have said on all the stations that I watch, it is considered to be real. Tests were done and they indicate that it is authentic.

I am glad they finally released the tapes. They are very instructive in their showing Americans what kind of individual we have been really dealing with. There is no longer any doubt that bin Laden and his thigs were out to destroy innocent American civilians. It appears that this was their only goal. They did not want to convert us to Islam or they did not want to take over the country, all they wanted was to kill innocents. I think this is the reason that President Bush and his staff decided to release the tape. People all over the world needed to know the truth of 9-11.

There have been those claiming that we didn't have evidence of what his intentions were. Now we do and the whole world knows what they are. It is now the duty of our government to eliminate this threat to all Americans. There is no place in this world for someone who gleefully recounts all the people that he has helped to kill. It was also bizare to hear him say that the terrorists didn't even know what they were going to do until the day of the attacks. This shows the extremism of the entire group.

This being said. We must stay the path until the goal is acheived, not like the Gulf war, however long it takes.

Talk to you later.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), December 14, 2001.


For those of you who would like more information on the bin Laden tape you may find the following site helpful:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40750,00.html

Talk to you later.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), December 14, 2001.


I've seen only parts and since I can't speak Arabic, I cannot authenticate the translation. If the tapes was faked, then shame on our government. However, I see no reason for the government to make such a fake. There would be some that will know better then there will be an angry backlash, which the US gov't DOESN'T want. One thing I do know, even if I can't understand the language, the demeanor and hand gestures of Bin Laden shows him to be a very happy person indeed at the time. I believe he did do the dirty deed and should be blown to kingdom come.

-- Nexar (Arax7@mvn.net), December 14, 2001.

I saw a little bit of it on the tube at my friend's. It was on Headline News and just excerpts. I did read the transcript at fox News (didn't follow your link, Bob, maybe it's what I read?)- He was happy, but I don't see it as a smoking gun. If I could speak Arabic and KNEW absolutely that this was authentic, then I could make a better judgement.

There are technologies available now where you don't have to say more than twenty words and you can be shown in a video saying whatever the people want you to say. I know it sounds wild, but I have some friends in LA that work in the film industry and they have told me about this and related that there is a fair amount of concern that actors could actually be done away with through this technology. I can't remember what the applications are called. Does anyone else know?

I am not saying this was faked, just that I honestly don't know. It would be a heck of a thing to do, and I don't "think" it is faked.

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), December 14, 2001.



Doreen,

If ANYBODY in the government faked this it is truly this dumbest thing anyone could do at this time. From what I have seen even most of the Arab and Muslim counties believe the tape is authentic. This was the reason the tape was released, for all the world to see. If the Arab countries believe it, and they can understand what is being said, why shouldn't we? Have we become that cynical in this country that we no longer believe anything that our government says? (I am not saying that we should blindly follow either.)

Just something to think about.

Talk to you later.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), December 15, 2001.


Joe,

Why don't you use your real e-mail address?

I had something I wanted to send you, but couldn't.

Talk to you later.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), December 15, 2001.


"Have we become that cynical in this country that we no longer believe anything that our government says?"

For reasons too numerous to count, my answer to that is: Pretty darn near everything a politician says is 90% false. If you want to me to begin to enumerate, it will take days.

I take everything that is put out by the Powers that Be with about 5 lbs of salt per ounce of info. Sorry. We have been lied to too many times.

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), December 15, 2001.


I don't know if anyone came up with this quote and seems to apply quite well to our government.

"Adding sprinkings of Truth will make Lies easier to swallow."

The above quote refers to a time-honored practice by propagandists. Sometimes, if it will do more damage to the opposition, then they will tell the truth (not the WHOLE truth, mind you. Just enough to elicit the desired responses).

I agree, it pretty sad of us the become this cynical about our own goverment, but unfortunately, our gov't is giving us more and more reasons to be cynical everyday.

-- Nexar (Arax7@mvn.net), December 17, 2001.


Regarding the cynicism:

It almost seems that we all are in the position of believing what we want to believe and disregarding the rest. I know that sometimes I find myself doing that, and I know that EVERYONE does it. I guess it is human nature. I found a good quote to summarize this:

"People don't like to be confused with facts that contradict their previously conceived opinion" unknown

It is truly sad that we have become that cynical. It just seems to get worse right along. After the last decade of shame in America I am hoping that this decade will be better. I am optimistic that it can happen, but will it? That remains to be seen.

I know it is hard not to be cynical with everything that has gone on for years in the Whitehouse. It will take a slow process of healing to get rid of this huge scar on America. I personally think it is unfair to compare the current President with the previous one. We have not given him a chance. If he is no different than the last one, well than he surely deserves our wrath, but not until he does something that deserves it. We can't sit back and just say Washington is always evil. That is not what we as citizens should do. We need to be vigilant as to what is happening and vote accordingly. (I guess this is a refernece to Gary Condit, remember him?) Those types of individuals do not deserve to be in Congress. If they get elected we should not be able to complain. It is not like we don't know what we are getting now. If the country is stupid enough to vote for these types how can they expect any moral and right decisions? In this case if the country goes to hell as they say, it is the voters own fault because of how they voted.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), December 17, 2001.



I haven't disregarded anything so for as Dubya is concerned. Ever since he took office, he's done everything EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what I think should have been done domestically. No compromises, no middle of road, just everything HIS way.

Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, he's had his chance. With every decision he makes, I trust him less and less. So he has done a better job of keeping it in his pants, that doesn't mean he hasn't sinned in other ways.

-- Nexar (Arax7@mvn.net), December 17, 2001.


BTW, I voted AGAINST him in the election, so don't go blaming ME for the crap he's doing to this country!

-- Nexar (Arax7@\mvn.net), December 17, 2001.

I don't particularly care where either Clinton or Bush put their hardware, but I get tired of people claiming Bush is than Clinton in this regard. I read in Atlantic Magazine a few months ago that Bush was masturbating into a coffin while citing all his past sexual exploits for the enjoyment of his skull and bones pals. Is this more acceptable than a blowjob from Monica?

-- joj (jump@off.c), December 17, 2001.

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