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WORLD / Middle East
Al-Qaida says 2nd bin Laden video coming
(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-11 06:32
CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden will appear for the second time in a week
in a new video to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks,
presenting the last will and testament of one of the suicide hijackers,
al-Qaida announced Monday.
This frame grab taken from an undated video message carrying the logo of
al-Qaida's production house as-Sahab and provided Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007
by IntelCenter, a U.S. government contractor monitoring al-Qaida
messaging, shows Osama bin Laden speaking in the first new video of the
al-Qaida leader in three years. [AP]?
Each year, al-Qaida has released videos of last statements by hijackers
on the anniversary of the 2001 attacks, using the occasion to rally its
sympathizers.
But this year's releases underline how bin Laden is re-emerging to tout
his leadership - whether symbolic or effective?- of the jihad movement.
While past anniversary videos featured old footage of bin Laden, the
latest appears likely to include a newly made speech.
Bin Laden had not appeared for nearly three years until a new video was
released over the weekend. In that video, he addressed the American
people, telling them the war in Iraq is a failure and taking on a new
anti-globalization rhetoric. He urged Americans to abandon capitalism and
democracy and embrace Islam.
Al-Qaida's media arm, Al-Sahab, announced the impending second video
Monday with an advertising banner posted on an Islamic militant Web forum
where the group often posts its messages.
The video was likely to be released within 24 hours to coincide with
Sept. 11, said Ben Venzke, head of IntelCenter, a US group that monitors
and analyzes militant messages.
"Coming soon, God willing, from the testaments of the martyrs of the New
York and Washington attacks: The testament of the martyr Abu Musab Waleed
al-Shehri, presented by Sheik Osama bin Laden, God preserve him," the
banner read.
Al-Shehri was one of the hijackers on American Airlines Flight 11 that
crashed into the World Trade Center's north tower.
The Web banner included a still image of bin Laden from the upcoming
video. Shown raising his finger, he wears the same dyed-black beard and
the same clothes?- white robe and round cap and beige cloak?- that he had
on in the video posted on the Web on Saturday.
Saturday's video was probably filmed in early August and it is likely
"that the (upcoming video) shows bin Laden in the same setting," Venzke
said.
Al-Qaida's media operations have become increasingly sophisticated, as
have the anniversary videos.
Last year, al-Qaida released a 55-minute documentary talking about the
planning of the attacks that hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The video included old but previously unreleased footage showing bin
Laden strolling through an Afghan training camp where the attacks were
apparently planned and chatting with top al-Qaida lieutenants. Among them
were Mohammed Atef, who was later killed in a November 2001 US airstrike
in Afghanistan, and Ramzi Binalshibh, who was captured in 2002.
The documentary also included the last testimonies of two Sept. 11
hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, brother of Waleed
al-Shehri. The video was accompanied by another with an address by bin
Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.
On Sunday, US President Bush's homeland security adviser, Frances Fragos
Townsend, sought to play down bin Laden's new appearance in a video and
questioned his importance, calling the al-Qaida leader "virtually
impotent."
But terrorism experts say al-Qaida's core leadership is regrouping in the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. The latest National Intelligence
Estimate says the network is growing in strength, intensifying its effort
to put operatives in the US and plot new attacks.
Bin Laden's video Saturday was his first message in over a year?- since a
July 1, 2006, audiotape. The images came under close scrutiny from US
intelligence agencies, looking for clues to the 50-year-old's health and
whereabouts.
In the video, bin Laden tells the American people his fighters are duty
bound to "escalate the fighting and killing against you" in Iraq. But he
adds that there is a solution to the bloodshed: "I invite you to embrace
Islam."
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