Bin Laden's whereabouts sought in new tape
( 2003-09-11 16:12) (Agencies)
Intelligence analysts were looking for clues to Osama bin Laden's whereabouts in a new videotape that shows him in Afghan garb, walking past wildflowers and tufts of green grass on a rocky mountainside.
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Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (L) and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, are seen in this undated video tape relesed Sept 10, 2003. The footage, the first video image of bin Laden in nearly two years, was aired on the eve of the second anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks by the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera. [AP]
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The footage was broadcast by Al-Jazeera television on Wednesday, the eve of the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. It is the first new video of bin Laden in nearly two years.
In it, the al-Qaida leader is accompanied by his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, as he hikes over boulders scattered across a hillside of lush green grass. In some scenes, the men carry walking sticks and assault rifles.
The landscape resembles the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where U.S. officials believe bin Laden is hiding out.
In an eight-minute audiotape accompanying the video footage, a speaker identified as bin Laden praises the "great damage to the enemy" on Sept. 11 and mentions five hijackers by name. On a second tape, a voice said to be that of al-Zawahri threatens more attacks on Americans and calls on Iraqi guerrillas to "bury" U.S. troops.
Al-Jazeera said the tapes were produced in late April or early May, but it did not say how or when it obtained them.
Intelligence experts in Washington were reviewing the tapes to try to determine when and where they were made, officials in Washington said.
"This is another reminder that they continue to plot to attack us and to attack freedom," said Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
In the audiotape, the the voice identified as bin Laden calls the Sept. 11 hijackers true believers who should serve as models for other Muslims.
"Those men caused great damage to the enemy and disturbed their plans," the speaker says.
He makes no direct threatening remarks, but the voice said to be al-Zawahri threatens more attacks on Americans.
"What you saw until now are only the first skirmishes," al-Zawahri allegedly says in a 12-minute tape. "The true epic has not begun."
A religious song could be heard in the background of the alleged bin Laden audiotape. Both tapes were translated from the Arabic by The Associated Press.
The video image of bin Laden appeared to be the first since he was shown at a dinner with associates on Nov. 9, 2001, in Afghanistan. That tape was made public a month later.
The tape follows several attributed to other al-Qaida figures who made a point of saying bin Laden was still active in the fight against the West. The last such message, attributed to an al-Qaida spokesman, was aired on the Arab television station Al-Arabiya Sept. 7. In August, an audiotape attributed to al-Zawahri also stressed that bin Laden was alive and well.
Bin Laden was last heard from on April 7, exhorting Muslims in an audiotape obtained by AP to rise up against Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other governments he claimed were "agents of America." That tape, which CIA analysts said appeared to be authentic, made a vague reference to the Iraq conflict, although it was not specific enough to determine whether it had been recorded before or after the Iraqi war began on March 20.
The videotape broadcast Wednesday shows bin Laden and al-Zawahri dressed in loose-fitting Afghan clothing and flat, rolled brim caps known as pakuls.
In one shot, bin Laden, in his late 40s and more than 6 feet tall, is assisted by a walking stick in his right hand and wears a blanket over his left shoulder. He shows signs of age since his last video image two years ago; his beard is whiter.
The two climb to the hilltop and sit resting, looking out over trees and rocky outcroppings, the camera behind them. The video appeared well-planned and well-shot, likely with bin Laden's full cooperation, as he glances over his shoulder at the camera several times.
Neither bin Laden nor his aide speak on the video, which appeared to be shot in one day. The light and bin Laden's clothing is the same in each segment. He appears to allow the cameraman time to move ahead to get a series of shots, and at one point he waves at the camera.
In one scene a small cluster of wildflowers can be seen, suggesting — given the apparent high altitude at which the video was shot — that the videotape was made in early summer. At such an altitude wild flowers would not be blooming in early September.
In an audiotape, the speaker said to be al-Zawahri refers to U.S. troops in Iraq — an indication that it was made after American troops entered Iraq last March.
"We salute the mujahedeen brothers in Iraq and press on their hands and ask Allah to bless their sacrifices and valor in fighting the crusaders," the speaker says. "We tell you that Allah is with you and the (Islamic) nation supports you. ... Bury them in the Iraqi graveyard."
The voice attributed to al-Zawahri also refers to the Sept. 11 anniversary.
"On the second anniversary of the raids on New York and Washington we challenge America and its crusade, which is teetering from its wounds in Afghanistan and Iraq," the speaker says. "We tell them that we do not seek to kill, but we will chop off the hand which seeks to inflict harm on us, God willing."
Bin Laden is believed to have been in the border region since December 2001, when U.S. and Afghan troops surrounded a giant cave complex in the eastern Afghan region of Tora Bora. On Dec. 10, troops intercepted a radio transmission that was believed to have come from the al-Qaida leader.
U.S. warplanes blanketed the area with bombs, but the Americans relied largely on local Afghan forces on the ground. Hundreds of al-Qaida suspects are believed to have escaped across the border into Pakistan, and bin Laden may have been among them.
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