The Sheikh replies, "Allah be praised." (source)
Sounds like a slam dunk, right?
However, some less than convinced individuals started noticing discrepancies pretty quickly in this "slam dunk" and started thoroughly analyzing the "American Video", better known as The Confession Tape, as well as the #3 video for my series. It is going to take time to cover some of the information they uncovered, so I am going to postpone that here and devote the next article in this series, Part 4, to a more in-depth exploration of the nuts and bolts of the Confession Tape.
Meanwhile, I want to leave you with some thoughts about the confession Tape and photography. Here are four photos grouped together, the top two being profile shots while the bottom two are close-ups from the top two. The two on the left are bin Laden's alleged image from the Confession Tape, while the two on the right are a stock bin Laden photo and its close-up of bin Laden:
Despite the extreme graininess and blurriness in the top and bottom photos on the left, they give us enough of an image to note that the facial structures do not look identical to those on the right. Note that the left bin Laden's nose appears shorter and squatter, while his face also appears broader and fleshier. The eyes also seem closer together.
Bin Laden is also known to have had increasingly gaunt features as time progressed in 2001 due to his chronic kidney disease and other health problems, yet the upper left photo, purportedly taken in November of 2001, although it could have been even earlier, shows a smiling bin Laden apparently flush with, if not health, smiles. Yet here is what bin Laden looked like in the last known video released of him in 2001, the Dec 27 video (our series' #4 video), which may have been shot earlier in December:
This is not a very healthy looking camper, to say the least. This may have been shot shortly before many think he died, somewhere around mid-December. If you go back to Part 2 of my series and look again at the photo still of bin Laden for the November 3rd video, even then you will discern a gauntness. So how does bin Laden apparently develop a rounder, flusher face and healthier demeanor in this same time period? Food for thought for next time.
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