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| Terror Networks & Islam |
| Deconstructing the bin Laden tapes |
| 2004-12-30 |
| The two big explosions that rocked the capital of Saudi Arabia Wednesday evening reinforce concerns among U.S. intelligence analysts that Osama bin Laden's increasingly frequent broadcast messages are still finding a receptive audience in the Arab world. The latest bombings in Riyadh—including one apparent car bomb near the Saudi Interior Ministry—come less than two weeks after an audiotape by the Al Qaeda leader blasted the Saudi rulers for "violating God's rules." The tape also praised as "our brothers" the men who attacked the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia earlier this month. "The sins the [Saudi] regime committed are great...It practiced injustices against the people, violating their rights, humiliating their pride," Bin Laden said in the audiotape that first appeared on Dec. 16. The Saudi royal family, he asserted, was misspending public money while "millions of people are suffering from poverty and deprivation." On Tuesday, another bin Laden tape surfaced, this one endorsing the Iraqi insurgency and declaring holy war on U.S. and Iraqi forces trying to safeguard the election. Less than 24 hours later, 28 people were killed in Baghdad, when insurgents detonated three-quarters of a ton of explosives in a house that police were raiding, flattening neighboring homes. Proving a direct connection between bin Laden's taped messages and any particular terrorist attacks is difficult, if not impossible. Still, the latest developments are almost certain to bolster those analysts who argue the alarming spate of recent bin Laden messages are a harbinger of more attacks to come-rather than, as some Bush administration officials have argued, the desperate last gasps of a cowering, isolated terrorist leader trying to prove his relevance. The debate over what bin Laden is up to has intensified in recent weeks with a seemingly unprecedented public relations campaign by the Al Qaeda leader. In all, bin Laden and his chief deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, will have released 11 different audio and video missives in 2004. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Why doesn't anybody grab the AlJizz video tapes and look at the blank tape lot numbers (on the case and inside). Plot where the different lots were sold and you are part-way to bin's hideout. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2004-12-30 6:03:50 PM |