06th
September 2007
CAIRO,
Egypt - Osama bin Laden plans a new video to be released
in the coming days ahead of the sixth anniversary of the
Sept. 11 attacks in what would be the first new images
of the terror mastermind in nearly three years, al-Qaida's
media arm announced Thursday.
The
al-Qaida leader has not appeared in new video footage
since Oct. 29, 2004, and he has not put out a new
audiotape in more than a year.
One
difference in his appearance was immediately obvious.
The announcement had a still photo from the upcoming
video, showing bin Laden addressing the camera, his
beard fully black. In his past videos, bin Laden's beard
was almost entirely gray with dark streaks.
Rita Katz,
director of the SITE Institute, a Washington-based group
that monitors terror messages, said bin Laden's beard
appeared to have been dyed, a popular practice among
Arab leaders.
"I think
it works for their (al-Qaida's) benefit that he looks
young, he looks healthy," Katz said.
The
announcement and photo appeared in a banner
advertisement on an Islamic militant Web site where al-Qaida's
media arm, Al-Sahab, frequently posts messages.
"Soon, God
willing, a videotape from the lion sheik Osama bin
Laden, God preserve him," the advertisement read, signed
by Al-Sahab. Such announcements are usually put out one
to three days before a video is posted on the Web.
IntelCenter, an Alexandria, Va.-based group that
monitors Islamic Web sites, said the video was expected
within the next 72 hours, before the sixth anniversary
of the Sept. 11, 2001 suicide hijacker attacks on the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
In bin
Laden's last appearance, just before the U.S.
presidential elections, he said America could avoid
another 9-11 style attack if it stopped threatening
Muslims.
Since
then, there have been a number of audiotape messages
from bin Laden. But there hasn't been one since July
2006, when he praised the slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and welcomed his successor.
During his
silence, his deputy, Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahri, has
frequently issued videos and audiotapes.
Al-Qaida
has regularly produced new messages around the
anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. In 2006, al-Zawahri
called on Muslims to attack the U.S. for jailing
militant cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman.
"They've
always gone out of their way to commemorate it," said
Ben Venzke, chief executive officer of IntelCenter.
But the
fact that bin Laden is delivering the message is
significant, he said. Whether the message will indicate
a potential attack will depend on what bin Laden says.
"Historically the anniversary of 9/11 has never been
drawn to attacks. It's drawn to video releases," Venzke
said. Four months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, al-Qaida
began planning its message for the first anniversary, he
said. This is the first notice of an anniversary message
from al-Qaida this year, but Venzke said we're entering
the window when the messages will start to appear.
In
Washington, officials had no immediate comment on the
announcement of an impending release.
One U.S. counterterrorism official agreed it would not
be unusual or surprising for al-Qaida to mark the
anniversary by releasing messages from bin Laden or
another senior member of the group.
But
without having seen the message and with only one still
photo apparently available from the tape, the official
could not speak to its importance. The official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity
of intelligence matters, said it was too early to
determine any significance the tape might have.
