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| Terror Networks |
| Al-Arabiyyah pulls Binny’s rerun tape |
| 2003-12-21 |
| The satellite channel Al-Arabiya has now withdrawn a tape it broadcast Saturday containing a voice claiming to be that of Osama bin Laden. Al-Arabiya gave no reason for pulling the tape, but a rival channel claimed it aired the tape two months ago. Al-Jazeera said it broadcast the same material in October. On the tape, a voice claiming to be that of bin Laden praised attacks on U-S forces in Iraq. It also said the Americans were waging a "new crusade against the Islamic world." A journalist reached at Al-Arabiya said the tape has been withdrawn and won’t be aired again. The journalist refused to elaborate. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #8 Repeat after me folks - Binny is dead. They pulled the tape because it was such an obvious replay of a earlier tape that it made them look bad. The tape earlier this week by al-zawahiri where he gasses on and on about "tora bora" tells me that binny got iced up there in the hiils. |
| Posted by: frank martin 2003-12-21 2:27:47 PM |
| #7 Those satellites are on the air because we KNOW about them, their frequencies, their footprints, and every living thing about them. I'm sure by now the CIA and NSA have devised some nifty screening software to pick up anything that goes on "between the keys". Shutting down this flow of information would force al-Q to try something else - something we DON'T know about. One of the reasons ENIGMA and the Japanese codebreaking was so carefully guarded was to keep the enemy from knowing his codes were broken. As long as they continued to think they were transmitting over a secure system, they didn't change. The result was an intelligence windfall that allowed us to shorten the war by at least a year, possibly more. Protecting "sources and methods" means sometimes NOT interfering. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-12-21 2:04:48 PM |
| #6 Actually, I think the let down of comparing Baghdad Bob's statements with reality is good for the Arab world. You let them broadcast pictures of Sadaam strutting about and then the disappointment when he crawls out of a hole is enhansed. It's probably not an intentional stratey, though. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-21 12:24:28 PM |
| #5 It's hard to stand down when we have been in the stand-down mode all along. Right on, RivrDog, and that doesn't just reach to counter-prop operations. Oh, and you can publish that paper at MY war college! ;) |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-12-21 6:11:39 AM |
| #4 AK-Paul: It's hard to stand down when we have been in the stand-down mode all along. With the exception of a leafletting op and some C-130 psywar flights during the active war, we did little to counter Saddam's control of the airwaves in Iraq, or support for him coming from other Arab states on their broadcast systems. My guess is that senior commanders were convinced by sig-int people that Saddam was going to pass operational info via the commercial airwaves, and we stood a chance of intercepting it, so there was a deliberate hands-off policy until very late in the war. The truth of the matter is that Saddam had very little command and control outward from himself to senior commanders. He didn't have much in GW1 either. The military history of this war, when written, will include that do-nothing stance as a US failure, count on it. I might have to research and write a paper myself, although it's hard to present anything to the War College after retirement. |
| Posted by: Rivrdog 2003-12-21 2:09:51 AM |
| #3 Al-Arabiyyah's a;-Nielsons are down, so the sponsors pulled the plug. Just market forces, folks, no reason to fire up the sat-killers just yet. Stand down. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-21 1:49:14 AM |
| #2 Awww man, reruns again? There's never anything new on. Guess it's hard to make new 'proclaimations' when you're buried under a few tons of mountain in Tora Bora. |
| Posted by: 4thInfVet 2003-12-21 1:39:47 AM |
| #1 We have the technology to monitor and negate the transmissions of these satellite services. Why aren't we? Bin Laden urging Jihad isn't news, it's an act of war. We need to put the owners of the satellites on notice that continued airing of jihadist messages will not be tolerated, and the satellites will be put out of action. If ordinary computer hackers can tweak with the satellites' guidance systems and spoil the aim of their antennas, putting them off the air, I'm sure USAF Space Command can do at least that well. We should bring down the satellites, and if the owners sue us, we'll take the chance of having to pay them (but it would be an excellent opportunity to repudiate the World Court, though). |
| Posted by: Rivrdog 2003-12-21 1:38:45 AM |