September 06, 2007
Report: Bin Laden Tape To Be Released On 9/11 Anniversary
Osama bin Laden has prepared an address to Americans that will be released next week on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks, jihadist forums are claiming.
The SITE Institute, which monitors extremist Web sites, reports that an "image of bin Laden contained in the banner found on jihadist forums is reminiscent of his last video appearance in 2004, but his beard is now completely black, as it was previously streaked with grey." (The Web site appears to have just been hit with too much traffic.)
With no solid leads on the al-Qaida chieftain's whereabouts or whether he's even alive, U.S. intelligence will seek to authenticate the video. It's been impossible to definitively authenticate previous videos, but the last major video message from bin Laden came in October 2004, in which he warned the U.S. to stay out of the Muslim world in order to avoid "another Manhattan." The message was considered the "October surprise" of that presidential election.
Subsequent messages were audio-only, spurring speculation that bin Laden was dead and his followers were creating the tapes for propaganda. This past July saw the first new video of bin Laden in some time, but experts concluded that the less-than-a-minute-long clip was recycled footage.
Bin Laden has eluded intelligence agencies since shortly after the 9/11 attacks. If alive, he is believed to be hiding along the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
