New Bin Laden Tapes Appear Fake Like Earlier Ones - by Stephen Lendman

On May 2, AP writer Matt Apuzzo headlined, "US Official: New bin Laden tape, recorded shortly before death, expected to surface soon," saying:

"US intelligence officials believe (he) made a propaganda recording shortly before his death and expect that tape to surface soon....A new recording (would) provide a final word from beyond the grave...."

On May 7, New York Times writer Elisabeth Bumiller headlined, "Videos From Bin Laden's Hide-Out Released," saying:

On May 7, the administration "released five videos recovered from" his alleged hideout, showing him "threatening the United States, condemning capitalism and at some points flubbing his lines and missing a cue."

Videos were released "without sound (allegedly) to avoid disseminating terrorist messages....The intelligence official who briefed reporters....took pains to point out that bin Laden....had dyed his white beard black," suggesting vanity or a desire to look younger.

Unmentioned were earlier tapes, including a posthumous December 27, 2001 video showing his beard clearly gray and another in 2004 the same, unlike a 2007 one showing it black. Forensic evidence proved the latter two crude audio and video fakes. More on them below.

Moreover, it's unclear whether Islamic law or teachings prohibit dying hair black. An Islam Question & Answer site says:

"Dyeing hair with pure black dye is haram (punishable) because the Prophet....said: "Avoid black," as well as "the threat of punishment reported with regard to this matter. This ruling applies to both men and women."

However, if black dye "is mixed with another color, so that it is no longer black, there is nothing wrong with it."

A more detailed statement can be accessed through the following link:

http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/476

True or false, other observers believe bin Laden never dyed his hair or beard, a notion in their minds as absurd.

New and Older Videos

The most reported newly released tape shows him wrapped in a blanket in a dilapidated looking room, watching himself on what appears to be a small old TV placed on a broken desk.

Yet he allegedly was housed in a million dollar compound, unlikely to be poorly heated and furnished, as well as shabby-looking, requiring him to sit on the floor with a blanket for warmth. At the least, the image in his alleged surroundings is incongruous, suggesting a recording made elsewhere, not at a luxury Abbottabad, Pakistan estate.

Moreover, the it shows his beard white, not black in other newly released videos, another inconsistency. In fact, he looks much younger than in 2001, suggesting images from the 1990s. Nonetheless, Bumiller cited an intelligence official saying bin Laden "was intensely interested in the image he presented to his supporters," without saying why beard color mattered.

What does matter is a visibly older looking man in 2001, not the more youthful bin Laden in four of the five newly released videos.

Apparently, Obama officials still can't get their story straight, acting much like Max Sennett's "Keystone Kops" and characters in the film and book by the same name titled, "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight."

An earlier article discussed the staged bin Laden killing hokum, accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/05/staged-bin-laden-killing-hokum.html

It addressed a scenario sounding more like bad fiction than allegedly eliminating "Enemy Number One" with no photos, videos or body of a dead bin Laden, as well as no independent proof and shifting stories. They're still not right, putting a lie to the entire account about a man who died earlier in mid-December 2001 of natural causes.

A decade ago, bin Ladin was very ill from kidney failure, diabetes, and by some accounts hepatitis C affecting his liver, requiring hospitalization in Pakistan and Dubai. Moreover, objective and testimonial evidence corroborated his mid-December 2001 death. An earlier article explained, accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/05/lies-damn-lies-and-bin-ladens-death.html

It also discussed past strategically released videos. Two examples are noteworthy - on September 7, 2007 and October 29, 2004. Digital image forensics expert Neal Krawetz analyzed both films, concluding they were crude fakes full of low quality visual and audio splices.

Moreover, bin Laden's beard was gray in the earlier video, black in the later one, and he was dressed in the same white hat, shirt and yellow sweater. In addition, the background, lighting, desk and camera angle were identical. Krawetz said "if you overlay the 2007 and 2004 videos, bin Laden's face is the same (unaged)." Only his beard color changed.

Notably also, bin Laden's December 2001 "confession" video admitting responsibility for 9/11 was fake. In February 2006, Duke University bin Laden expert Professor Bruce Lawrence exposed it, calling it a bad hoax.

Citing US intelligence informants, he said everyone knows it's fabricated. He also compared an overweight bin Laden impostor to authentic images showing him much thinner. In fact, the difference between the real and fake bin Laden is obvious, but was falsely used for years as his admission for an inside job crime.

Earlier, post-9/11, in three Al Jazeera interviews, he claimed no knowledge or responsibility for the event.

However, on May 3, 2011, Al Jazeera misreported him admitting "responsibility for planning the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington," an irresponsible lie with no corroborating evidence and their own 2001 interviews.

In addition, a May 25, 2010 Jeff Stein Washington Post article headlined, "CIA unit's wacky idea: Depict Saddam as gay" said:

It considered making fake videos, and:

"(t)he agency actually (made one) purporting to show Osama bin Laden and his cronies sitting around a campfire swigging bottles of liquor and savoring their conquests with boys, one of the former CIA officers recalled, chuckling at the memory. The actors were drawn from 'some of us darker-skinned employees,' " he said.

The Pentagon took over the project, saying "(t)hey had assets in psy-war down at Ft. Bragg at the army's special warfare center."

Alleged DNA Evidence Confirming Bin Laden's Identity

On May 7, Michael Ruppert's article headlined, "Osama and the Ghosts of September 11: 'Proof that Obama is Lying,' " saying:

A noted molecular biologist and DNA expert told him the following on condition of anonymity:

He "built a lucrative career in human genetics. (He ran) one of the world's largest and most productive DNA genotyping facilities, (and is now) helping to build the global market for clinical whole human genome sequencing for the world's largest human genome sequencing facility."

He also worked with the best in his and other fields, saying:

"I know DNA. And, one thing I know about DNA is that you cannot, repeat CANNOT: take a tissue sample from a shot-in-the noggin-dead-guy in a north central Pakistan special forces op, extract the DNA, prepare the DNA for assay, test the DNA, curate the raw DNA sequence data, assemble the reads or QC the genotype, compare the tested DNA to a reference, and make a positive identity determination....all in 12 hours - let alone transport the tissue samples all the places they'd need to have gone in order to get this done."

"Any way you slice it, the real work would require days," and no nearby aircraft carrier or other ship is outfitted with a profession lab and experts on board to do it.

He concluded saying they may or may not have gotten bin Laden, but there's no DNA proof confirming it before they allegedly dumped him at sea. In other words, they lied, one of many beginning with Obama's May day announcement.

A Final Comment

This and previous articles highlight a shameless Washington effort to compound one lie with others, endorsed by major media reports and pundits going along with what they should expose and denounce.

Instead, ad nauseam accounts continue, contributing to war on terror fear mongering that's changed America dramatically post-9/11 disturbingly. It suggests worse yet to come, including perhaps more war besides others now raging, while popular needs go begging.

Despite poll data showing opposition, they continue because people focus more on bread and circuses than activism, the only way to achieve constructive change. It's high time opinions became anger enough to significantly make a difference. It better because the alternative is too dire to imagine.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Another factor in the death of Bin Laden (though he was probably dead several years ago and being kept in CIA's freezer, hence the youthful look on videos) is the loss of potential testimony about GW Bush regime's prior knowledge and forewarning about 9/11. This could have been discussed in court had Bin Laden been taken alive and brought over for trial.

Now that there is no possible chance of a trial with Bin Laden giving testimony about the details of 9/11, the GW Bush regime is once again off the hook for their possible complicity and foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks.

Since Barack "Let Bygones be Bygones" Obama has refused to bring the GW Bush regime to trail for war crimes (torture, violation of Geneva Conventions, illegal invasion of Iraq, etc...), it follows that the CIA under his control would be more than happy to eliminate any potential damaging testimony from Bin Laden.

Just a few days after the so-called death of Bin Laden a CIA drone attempted to kill U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, another high ranking al Queda official who may know more than the CIA likes. By killing Anwar outright, there is no risk of damaging testimony were he captured alive and brought to trial here in the U.S., as our Constitution calls for.

....what you are saying is that Barokeydoke Hubris Obozo is nothing but a punk ass 3rd world bitch nigga who would rather suck GW's dick than do what you think is 'the right thing'....well it's not like that's the first and only dick the boy has sucked is it?

Left out is how the old guy watching the TV set had the wrong ears. Again.

So who is lying to us this time? Bush is out. Obama is in. Who is the same? CIA maybe. No one got fired the last time they got caught lying about a phony OBL. So some assets known to be liars are still in play. Naval intel maybe.

And why are we being lied to, again. Is it so Obama's approval ratings can rise a whole 3% points? Is it so Obama can claim this unknown person's death caused consumer confidence numbers to rise?

They say they have photos of someone they say is a dead OBL. Any profile shots? Certainly a profile shot wouldn't be as upsetting as a frontal photo would be.

What i am saying is that Pres. Obama is an accomplice to the war crimes of the GW Bush regime for aiding and abetting the GW Bush regime to remain fugitives who remain escapees from a much needed war crimes tribunal.

If some civilian were to hide and shelter a fugitive murderer in their home, they would be arrested and charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive murderer.

This same concept needs to apply to our elected officials, right up the Pres. Obama. His abject refusal to hold the GW Bush regime accountable for war crimes (torture violates Geneva Conventions, illegal invasion of Iraq based upon deceptive WMD disinfo) despite overwhelming evidence indicates that he is making a purposeful decision to aid and abet the fugitive war criminals of the GW Bush regime.

Whether Bin Laden died of natural causes (Marfan syndrome) in 2001 (as was mentioned by Benazir Bhutto before she was assassinated in Pakistan by an extremist) or some other time between then and now is irrelevent. Since he is now officially declared as dead he cannot ever be brought to trial and give possible testimony in a U.S. court that could show how GW Bush had foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks and purposefully ignored the warnings.

Basically Pres. Obama is GW Bush Term 3 with a better vocabulary, darker skin tone and a hotter first lady. Outside of these differences; the new boss is the same as the old boss, the neoconservative and neoliberal fascist status quo remains in the dedicated service of the corporatist military industrial complex, NOT the people of the U.S.!!

IF Pres. Obama continues to refuse to do his job and bring GW Bush in for a war crimes tribunal, we the people will take matters into our own hands. Following the predictable conviction of GW Bush regime for war crimes, we the people will next try Obama for aiding and abetting GW Bush for war crimes. Do NOT underestimate the will of the people for justice!

(Remember what happened to Ms. Marie Antionette and the other royal cake eaters during the French Revolution? This time we will need to add a conveyer belt to our state of the art guillotine!)

That is what i am saying! We'll leave the references to dick sucking out for now, ok!

some resources for the people to try GW Bush for war crimes independent of U.S. government;

http://www.uswarcrimes.com/

From the uswarcrimes site;

"Michael Haas’s George W. Bush, War Criminal? The Bush Administration’s Liability for 269 War Crimes was published a few days before Barack Obama took the oath of office. Torture, murder, illegal war, the slaughter of thousands of innocents, abuse of child prisoners—these are only a few of 269 war crimes committed during the Bush administration that rolled over to the Obama administration on January 20, 2009, to haunt his presidency. The book has the distinction of having inspired a protest in front of the New York Times building because the venerable newspaper refused to publish a review soon after its release.

Although President Obama signed executive orders to stop torture and close Guantánamo, the war crimes have continued virtually unabated ever since. Indeed, the Times Square bomber specifically cited American war crimes as the reason for his action on May 1, 2010.

Newly published America’s War Crimes Quagmire, From Bush to Obama identifies how the war crimes of the Bush administration have continued to be documented by the press while politicians and pundits have withheld criticisms. The book consists of forty-seven essays that were originally blogs on the website www.USwarcrimes.com. Essays are edited appropriately, with occasional postscripts to bring the narrative up to date.

America’s War Crimes Quagmire, From Bush to Obama concludes that war crimes continue because American leaders have only focused on torture, thereby allowing thousands of victims of more than two hundred other war crimes to suffer. Instead, the term “war crimes” is taboo in the United States. And although some Americans have called for prosecution of war criminals, cries from overseas victims have been muffled. Yet the rest of the world, in contrast, is fully aware of American lawlessness.

The book also identifies how the Georgian republic, Russia, and other countries have copied American post-9/11 war crimes. As a result, there is a new era of international barbarism that serves to aid anti-American terrorist recruitment while repudiating the advances achieved in humanizing warfare by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, by the Red Cross, at the Hague Conventions, at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, and by the Geneva Conventions.

The author, Michael Haas, is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee for his work on behalf of human rights. An academic political scientist, he has taught at Northwestern University, Loyola Marymount University, Occidental College, Purdue University, Stanford University, the University of California (Riverside), the University of Hawai‘i, the University of London, and six campuses of California State University, most recently California Polytechnic University (Pomona).

The 278-page book, available for $25 (including postage and handling) per domestic copy and $30 for international purchase, can be ordered by sending a check or money order payable to “Publishinghouse for Scholars,” P.O. Box 461267, Los Angeles, CA 90046. The book has an extensive set of references, and a comprehensive index.

If Robert Jackson, prosecutor at Nuremberg, were alive today, here is doubtless what he would say about America’s War Crimes Quagmire, From Bush to Obama: “The real complaining party is Civilization. International law, a struggling and imperfect force, points to the sequence of aggressions and war crimes and to the greater potentialities for destruction elsewhere in the days to come. It is not necessary to argue the proposition that to start or wage an aggressive war has the moral qualities of the worst of crimes. The refuge of the defendants can be only their hope that international law will lag so far behind the moral sense of mankind that conduct which is crime in the moral sense must be regarded as innocent in law.”

Time will tell. America’s War Crimes Quagmire, From Bush to Obama promises to serve as the most recent clarion call of our time."

Lord Locks wrote;

"i even have his exact address if that helps any....that way you can go make a "citizens' arrest" of him yourself...LMAO"

Am going to call your bluff on this. Yes, please publish his address on this comment thread so that i can pay GWB a visit to make a citizens arrest for his war crimes!

Am under direct orders from God to dig a 30 foot armadillo tunnel in Texas and pop up under the fence while GWB is out clearing brush. Then i'll slap the cuffs on him and drag him under the tunnel to feed my army of ants!!

how's that for justice!

that sounds like a plan to me !!!!!!!!!!!

actually, I think that all the presidents after Kennedy ( I'm not letting him off the hook 'cause he also had his hands bloody up to the elbow with the south American death squad system as well as his brother, but he did have guts to fire CIA assholes like Dulles ) are all guilty of blatant war crimes and mass murder.

This is America. Where Wall St. Rules through their agency the CIA.