The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Unreleased bin Laden audio message called ‘puzzling'
By Pam Benson, CNN
May 13, 2011 7:10 p.m. EDT
Washington (CNN) — An unreleased audio message from Osama bin Laden, produced in late April, days before his death, in which he talks in support of the so-called “Arab Spring,” was seized at the compound during the U.S. raid, according to a U.S. official.
Unbelievable “interpretations” and our sharp rebuttal below the line…
Continue reading “Bin Laden Show 65: Puzzling Audio Probably Fake”
Extensive Porn Stash Reportedly Found in Bin Laden Compound
Fox News, 13 May 2011
A stash of pornography was found in the Pakistani compound of Usama bin Laden raided last week by Navy SEALs, U.S. officials tell Reuters.
The pornography taken from the compound consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive, officials said.
Phi Beta Iota: Steganography has been around since the early 1990's among the cognocenti, and since both the PLO and IRA have higher PhD ratios than CIA does, we're certain all such groups have been using it. We're also pretty sure this pornography staff is a CIA wet dream and one more turn of the idiocy screw. The lack of 360 degree photos of all rooms including modern information technology equipment, the video of the “old guy” using a 1970's television, none of this adds up. Flicker and Amazon are vastly better suited to steganography dead drops, and Bin Laden's character (integrity) is such that we find this to be one more indication that this was a “prepped site” and that CIA has been lying to JSOG and perhaps also to the White House. This smells.
Bin Laden’s Diaries Say Joe Biden Wasn’t Worth The Assassination Attempt
NY Magazine, 13 May 2011
Phi Beta Iota: Worth reading, in part because every day that passes adds weight to our view that this is a massive, expensive, long-planned CIA covert operation. Bin Laden was not about assassination, nor was he a micro-manager. This comes across as a CIA kludge–the kitchen sink. We speculate there is actually a timeline at CIA with specific stories planned for release every other day between now and November 2012. This reeks.
Uthman Badar, ABC Australia, 13 May 2011
My phone ran hot last week with calls from media. After giving numerous interviews to TV, radio, and print media, there was a discernable pattern as to what journalists were after.
EXTRACT:
The reality of what most Muslims thought was, of course, far more nuanced and, dare I say it, reasonable. On our part, we had issued a statement on the killing of bin Laden in which we highlighted the substantive points on the matter.
One, Western Governments have committed far greater acts of terrorism than any individual. Two, the issue is not the person of bin Laden but the context of his struggle being a struggle of resistance against Western imperialism in the Muslim World – a resistance which Muslims globally relate to. Third, the killing of bin Laden was no real victory, it would make little difference on the ground, and the ‘War on Terror’, on the whole, was in fact a resounding failure.
These assertions confounded, apparently, most of the journalists.
Read rest of this long and extremely thoughtful essay….
Bin Laden Show 34: Non-Event for Most Muslims
Legitimate Grievances (Anti-US Global)
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Abuse & Atrocities
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Class War (Global)
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Disinformation, Other Information Pathologies, & Repression
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Empire as Cancer Including Betrayal & Deceit
Worth a Look: Impeachable Offenses, Modern & Historic
Former Attorney General: McCain ‘simply incorrect' on interrogations that led to key Bin Laden intel
Phi Beta Iota: This individual means well and probably remembers what he was told, but CIA has a history of lying to Presidents, Attorney Generals, and Congress and we professionals know for a FACT that waterboarding does not work, it creates false leads, and only morons support the concept in their ignorance.
John McCain to Bush apologists: Stop lying about Bin Laden and torture
Sen. John McCain: Osama Bin Laden was not killed because of information obtained by torture
McCain: Harsh Interrogations Didn’t Help Track Down bin Laden
Osama bin Laden pictures leave no doubt he is dead, Senator claims
The pictures of Osama bin Laden are definitely him and leave no doubt the al-Qaeda leader is dead, according to a Republican Senator.
Read rest of “party line” article….
Phi Beta Iota: We have mixed feelings. There is a 20% possibility that Bin Laden was actually there and killed, and a 20% possibility that the journals and other recovered materials are real. What we find troubling are two things: 1) the gullibility of Senators who are not forensic experts and have not had access of any sort to the actual body (unless he was captured but this is a stretch as well); and 2) the likelihood that the high-school gibberish in these journals, whether real or concocted, will over-shadow all reasonable thought in the next year. This is THEATER. Terrorism is a TRAFFIC ACCIDENT. What is being done (and not done) in our name is a million times more important than this ridiculous abuse of US power for the wrong reasons.
Review: Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
NIGHTWATCH
Afghanistan-Taliban: On the death of bin Laden. The Afghan Taliban issued a lengthy statement praising bin Laden, but decoupling his jihad from the current struggle in Afghanistan.
“…The martyr (may God the Exalted have mercy on him) was among the protectors of the Islamic Afghan jihad against the enemy Soviet Union, and he participated with complete loyalty and courage in jihad alongside the Afghans until the Soviet invader forces departed Afghanistan. He offered great sacrifices in jihad in the cause of God, which the history of the ummah of Islam will always take pride in. In addition to this, the martyr shaykh (may God the Exalted have mercy on him) was among the strongest of defenders on the issue of the first qiblah [direction of prayer] of the Muslims: the issue of Al-Aqsa in occupied Islamic Palestine. Likewise, he was the greatest mujahid, and knew not laziness in his struggle against the Crusader-Zionist aggressors all over the Islamic world…”
“… If the occupying Americans and their allies think that the ranks and fighting spirit of the mujahidin in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the occupied lands will weaken with the killing of Shaykh Usama Bin Ladin (may God have mercy on him), this points toward the naïve thinking of the Americans and their lack of understanding of the meanings of jihad and martyrdom. The tree of jihad has been watered, and it is flourishing. It will always do so from the pure blood of the martyrs. With the martyrdom of each martyr, a hundred others will advance to the fields of sacrifice and devotion.”
‘Let America know that the jihadist movement present now in Afghanistan was established from within the Afghan people. It is an expression of the sentiments and hopes of this proud people, and every strike from the occupiers in this country will engender a more powerful response than the strike. The people are in solidarity with the mujahedin.'
‘Indeed, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers that the martyrdom of Shaykh Usama (may God have mercy on him) at this sensitive stage of jihad will give birth to a new spirit of jihad against the occupiers, and will incite the jihadist waves further and further. Time will prove, to friend and enemy alike, the will of God the Exalted. What we have said is sincere.'
‘The Shura Command of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan ”
Comment: The statement represents guidance to the commanders in Afghanistan that bin Laden was important in the fight against the Soviets and his death is an inspiration for the future. The Shura Command, however, does not extol him as a hero of Afghanistan today. Rather it stresses the point that his struggle moved in a different direction. The Afghan fight is home grown so that bin Laden's death is not a blow to the Taliban struggle or morale.
The statement makes clear that the Taliban think that bin Laden had nothing to do with the struggle of the Taliban. The Afghans always despised the Arabs as much as the Arabs looked down on the Afghans. Mullah Omar extended hospitality to bin Laden and his Arabs and they paid him rent and abused Afghan hospitality. Omar lived to regret the arrangement because he lost his country in 2001 to US forces and northern tribal allies because of those Arabs. The Shura members apparently have not let Omar forget his bad judgment and thus they showered bin Laden with faint praise.
The language of the statement also looks like a direct rebuke of western pundits and officials who predicted that bin Laden's death would demoralize the Taliban. The Shura Command disagrees and so does the data on the level of fighting and security incidents in May. More to follow.
