A central plank of the al-Qaida resurgence noted by U.S. analysts is its sophisticated messaging and propaganda strategy, spearheaded by a state-of-the-art in-house multimedia production facility producing high-quality videos every three days or so.
The as-Sahab Institute, as the terror network’s media arm calls itself, is often in the global spotlight — as it was last week after releasing Osama bin Laden’s message to Americans and two other videos to mark the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
If your prime source of news about Al-Qaida is US TV or, worse, the US government, you may not realize they average a video release every three days.
The videos are messages from and interviews with al-Qaida’s leaders, and propaganda films made by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. And they are released more or less simultaneously in a bewildering variety of formats and quality standards.
The latest bin Laden video was made available in five different versions, ranging from high definition to a special format called 3GP that can be downloaded to mobile devices. The versions were downloadable at more than 20 different places on the Web, and most messages are also released on a CD-ROM format disc as well.
“They produce versions (subtitled) in different languages, and for each of those versions the graphics and the content might be different, too,”.
Interesting – and inconclusive – discussion in the article. This won’t satisfy folks for whom the War on Terror is the new catechism.
13. Mister Mustard Uh…how about he’s a delusional, ignorant, spoiled brat, who has been saved by Daddy from every fuck-up he’s ever made in his life. Daddy’s not going to save him from this one though.
But enough about Bin Laden and his daddy’s money.
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! BRING THEM HOME WITH BIN LADEN! REMEMBER 9/11! REMEMBER THE ALAMO!
Assuming the louder you are, the closer to truth.
RBG
#18 Ben Waymark
“I don’t think he’d be so unwise as to give China the finger, and he certainly wouldn’t do it with utter impunity…. China would have his ass faster than you can say “Falun Gong”
That’s very likely true.
The point is, I don’t think the people who run China are bosom buddies with Osama’s entire family – like the Bush family.
Who knows what the Bushes promised the bin Ladens before they let them fly home – while everyone else was grounded after 9/11?
#19, ECA
Get off your Hemorrhoids and KNOW both sides of this story. …
I just love your writing style sometimes.
#22, Croaker,
Who knows what the Bushes promised the bin Ladens before they let them fly home – while everyone else was grounded after 9/11?
Idiot. After air travel resumed, the Saudi government suggested several people leave the US and offered travel to all Saudis that wanted to leave. Apparently 9/11 was too long ago for you to remember the hysteria and fear that pervaded America.
The bin Ladens had been interviewed by the FBI before they left. And not all of Osama’s relatives left the US either.
http://www.wanttoknow.info/010920globe
(reprint of a Boston Globe article)
#24 Mr. Fusion
“Idiot. After air travel resumed, the Saudi government suggested several people leave the US and offered travel to all Saudis that wanted to leave.”
Well done. An ad hominem attack and you totally avoided the issue of the close ties between the bin Ladens and the President’s family. You should be a politician. Maybe you are?
“Apparently 9/11 was too long ago for you to remember the hysteria and fear that pervaded America.”
Not really and to remind myself, all I have to do is to read your posts and many of the other posts on this blog each and every day, year in and year out – likely decade in and decade out in the time to come.
I suppose, eventually you might even get up to centuries in and centuries out. It’s your whole world. It’s more than the terrorists could possibly have imagined prior to 9/11. Way to go!
“The bin Ladens had been interviewed by the FBI before they left. And not all of Osama’s relatives left the US either.”
Just the accessories before and after the fact had a good reason to leave the country. Why would any of the other bin Ladens leave? They had the President and the entire military of the U.S.A. to protect them from harm.
p.s. Sorry about the “Croaker” signature earlier. It was a mouse click error.