Is Osama bin Laden Dead? Part 2: the First Tapes

As I said in Part 1 (click here to read) of this series, "Given all the above evidence and statements, particularly the accounts of his hospital visits for kidney dialysis, it is certainly reasonable and logical to conclude that bin Laden expired in December of 2001......So what was it that brought him back to life after even multiple commentators buried him, a life that keeps on going and going, just like the Energizer Bunny Rabbit, in the mainstream media globally to this very day? The answer, in a word: TAPES...."

So in this article and those following, we are going to start looking at the tapes, specifically those in late 2001, including the infamous Confession Tape wherein bin Laden revels in the havoc wreaked at the World trade Center, or does he? This article will focus on the Oct 7 and Nov 3 tapes, but also on a rather shocking print interview with bin Laden which has scarcely seen the light of day in the Western media, but which has also not been verifiable yet. But its content, nonetheless, would be of tremendous import if it turned out to actually be true.

There were actually four videotapes of bin Laden, or ostensibly of bin Laden, in late 2001, the first appearing on October 7 through the auspices of Al-Jazeera satellite channel. As Guardian Unlimited writer Mark Tran reported, "Osama bin Laden made a rare television appearance to rally Muslims to his cause as America and Britain launched their strikes against the main suspect for the September 11 attacks on the US.

"In a video that appeared to have been made in a cave and shot in daylight, Bin Laden spoke calmly but emphatically, often pointing his finger to stress his point. With an assault rifle propped up behind him, Bin Laden said: "America was hit by God in one of its softest spots. America is full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east. Thank God for that." (source)

Below is a still of bin Laden. Mark Tran states that just when the video was made is not known, but that it would have to have been after September 11, which bin Laden refers to indirectly in the video. Also be aware that bin Laden makes no confessional statements in this video, no mea culpa. He only praises the attack in New York with the above statement "Thank God for that" as if he were a spectator to the event. To read the full text of his video speech (with a different translation from the one in The Guardian), click here.

Osama bin Laden in video footage aired by Qatar-based satellite TV station
 al-Jazeera (photo source)

But even this first video after 9/11 immediately led to charges that it was a fake. Personally I think it is genuine, but I will not say so with 100% certainty, more like 85-90%, because some of his language seems out of character. I definitely think the face in the video is bin Laden's, even if it the message been doctored in some way. However, if you wish to read one such argument condemning the video as a fraud, click here.

The next tape surfaces on November 3, 2001, again through the auspices of Al-Jazeera satellite channel:

Bin Laden in his Nov 3, 2001 videotape (source)

In this videotape bin Laden is looking a little more weathered, while the United States has now fully launched the invasion of Afghanistan, which bin Laden condemns as unjustified in the video. Bin Laden is also excoriating the West, the UN and Israel, and explaining all of the unfolding events as fundamentally a religious war against Islam instigated by the "Crusader" West. It is a standard feature of his speeches that he will ruminate against Israel, as well as expound upon injustices against Moslems. But once again he issues no mea culpa about 9/11. For the full English text of this video speech, you can click here.

Meanwhile, quite an amazing print interview of bin Laden surfaced in late September, several weeks after 9/11, and yes, actually preceding both of the above videotapes, an interview that throws a monkey wrench into all of our media-fed conceptions about 9/11 and the War on Terror, but, HOWEVER, only if the interview is on the level, and if bin Laden is being truthful in it. On September 28, the popular Pakistani newspaper Ummat published a secretive interview with bin Laden wherein bin Laden is directly asked if he perpetrated 9/11. Here is an excerpt of that interview:

[UMMAT: You have been accused of involvement in the attacks in New York and Washington. What do you want to say about this? If you are not involved, who might be?

USAMA BIN LADEN: In the name of Allah (God), the most beneficent, the most merciful. Praise be to Allah, Who is the creator of the whole universe and Who made the Earth as an abode for peace, for the whole humankind. Allah is the Sustainer, who sent Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) for our guidance. I am thankful to the Ummat Group of Publications, which gave me the opportunity to convey my viewpoint to the people, particularly the valiant and momin (true Muslim) people of Pakistan who refused to believe the lies of the demon (Pakistani military dictator General Pervez Musharraf).

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