 London, 20 Jan. (AKI) - The poor quality of Osama bin-Laden's latest message - a audio-only recording with crackling voice-distorting static, may shed some light on the whereabouts of the fugitive Islamist leader. This contrasts sharply with the clear images and sound of a video released earlier this month showing al-Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri. "Firstly, it indicates the recordings were made in different places, and hence that the two men are not hiding out together" says Hani al-Sebai, director of London-based al-Maqrizi Institute for Historical Studies.
| Next time use a Shure mic and TDK tape. |
"The poor quality of bin Laden's recording suggests that from his hideaway, he doesn't have access to the same technology as al-Zawhairi. Also bin-Laden speaks in a hushed tones, which could mean he didn't want to be hear by those near him when the recording was made," al-Sebai who is an al-Qaeda expert told Adnkronos International (AKI).
| Or that he's in advanced end-stage renal disease and isn't feeling too perky ... |
US experts have declared the message, three minutes of which were first broadcast by pan-Arab network Al-Jazeera on Thursday, as authentic. In it, bin Laden refers to an alleged US plan to bomb Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar - allowing the message to be dated at no earlier than December 2005, the time when claims of the anti-Al-Jazeera plans first surfaced.
"Had it been an old recording we would have heard him reciting verses from the Koran and some generic threats and warnings, instead the fact that he talks about current events indicates that bin Laden intends to continue his struggle," says al-Sebai, a former Egyptian Jihad activist who spent time in a Cairo jail with al-Zawahiri in 1981.
| Osama needs to read tomorrow's headlines from the Peshawar Times into the mic; then we'll believe it's current. |
In the message the al-Qaeda leader threatens fresh attacks against the United States, but at the same time offers a conditional truce in exchange of a US troop withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Bin Laden wants to appear before the Muslim world as a man of peace, a man who is always searching for a peaceful solution to bring stabilty to the Middle East region, in contrast with the Western image of him as a terrorist" concluded al-Sebai.
| Or al-Sebai could be blowing smoke, since all Osama's offered is a hudna, which every good Moose-Limb understands right away isn't the same thing as a truce or a peace. |
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