Osama Bin Laden's latest message is a hodgepodge of anti-capitalist vitriol, impassioned Islamic evangelism and what can best be described as a twisted attempt at reconciliation: Join us, or we will kill you.
Analysts say the video that came out days before the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is more about timing than substance, an attempt by history's most wanted fugitive to thumb his nose at the forces arrayed against him, and remind the world that he has not been caught.
Anne Giudicelli, a former French diplomat specializing in the Middle East who now runs the Paris-based consultancy Terrorisc, said bin Laden is well aware that his reappearance on the world stage - looking fit and calm despite his years on the run - was itself a victory that went way beyond anything he actually said.
In the tape released on Friday, bin Laden mentions the anniversary of the August 6, 1945, atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, Japan. He also refers to the Democratic Party's US congressional victory in last fall's election, and to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was elected in May.
Ben Venzke of the IntelCenter, a US-based intelligence group that monitors terrorism messages, said the Hiroshima reference means the earliest the tape could have been made is on or shortly after August 9 - less than a month ago.
While this was bin Laden's first message in a year, and the first time he appeared in a new video since 2004, other Al-Qaida leaders have been using the airwaves more and more in recent months.
They have also been reducing the time it takes to get tapes out, a troubling sign that analysts and intelligence experts say could mean that the terror leaders are in greater command than previously feared, and perhaps better able to launch attacks.
Source: China Daily/agencies
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article