(New Development) Bin Laden tape likely authentic, CIA says

Posted 10/20/2003 10:30 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Central Intelligence Agency has determined the new audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden is probably authentic, officials at the agency said Monday.

The determination was made after a technical analysis by agency experts, who matched the voice to previous recordings of the al-Qaeda leader, said CIA officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The message aired Saturday on the al-Jazeera television network.

Because of some timely references in the tape, CIA analysts interpret it to mean bin Laden was alive during the last six months. In particular, officials noted bin Laden's reference to the government of former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who was appointed in April and resigned Sept. 6.

That reference means it was recorded since his appointment. Because it doesn't note Abbas' resignation, the message is taken by some to mean it was recorded before then, but CIA officials said that isn't certain.

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(prior LBN story here)

The one an independent Swiss laboratory analysed and found to be a fake? For now I'm taking this with a grain of salt about the size of the Rock of Gibraltar. I'll believe it when there's independent verification.

The CIA is the gold standard for politically convenient analysis.

Should the CIA, who helped Bush Inc. lie so much about Iraq, now be taken serious for anything they say, with Tenet at the helm?

Jesus, please come back and get me out of here!!!!

why can't he be found and eliminated? Likewise where is Sadaam and
the Anthrax mailer? How long are these people going to be used as
an excuse for this administration to practice nation building and
the billions of dollars it is costing us while our own infrastructure
is falling down around our ankles? What we see is not what we are
getting despite all the rhetoric and spin doctoring going on.

How is it that maybe 1000 hardcore Al-Qaeda can manage to beat the the combined resources of the US miliary? Well, once we understand why we let OBL's relatives leave shortly after 9/11 and why we let the Pakistani/Al-Qaeda leadership get safe passage from Afghanistan before we obliterated Tora-Bora, maybe we'll get an answer.

For me, I think it's simple...No OBL/Al-Qaeda, No "War on Terr", no Bush pResidency.

They are mutaually co-dependent and enabling each other's existance.

... yeah, the voice purportedly is allegedly the voice of Osama, but the voice telling you this isn't ... it belongs to someone else or no one at all ... I'm so sure of it that this tape will self-destruct in 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 ....

We're grown up folks here and I don't think the enemy meant for them to be fake.

Authentically, show us? Then I may believe the CIA. Why is everything such a big big secret? C'mon!!

Give me a break. can't believe a word they say.

of world events. His billets-doux are frequent but toothless.

bad finger.