GINA COBB

Pakistani Terrorists Burn Down Girls' School; Media Whitewash Terror Attack as "Militant" "Raid"

More sweetness and light from terrorists in Pakistan:

Peshawar - A high school for girls in Pakistan's north-west Swat district was largely destroyed after militants set it ablaze in an overnight raid, police and officials said on Sunday.

Around 50 rebels entered the school in the conflict-hit Charbagh area, located some 150 kilometres from the city of Peshawar, shortly after Saturday's midnight and used petrol bombs to destroy the library and nine other rooms in the building, the police said.

'The masked men directed me to remove all the copies of Koran (the holy book of Islamic religion) and then set the school on fire,' a watchman, Toti Gul, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The militants also planted homemade bombs in the school's science laboratory; however, they did not go off and were later defused by a bomb disposal squad, the watchman said.

A number of attacks on girls' schools have been reported in the past and these were believed to be carried out by pro-Taliban fighters commanded by a local radical cleric, Maulana Fazlullah.

Pakistani military launched a massive operation against the pro- Taliban militants in the picturesque mountain district late last year to flush Fazlullah's supporters out of several key towns and villages.

However, now there is a lull in direct clashes between the rebels and the military as the government has launched peace talks with the insurgents.

'The militants were bold enough to stay at the school for at least 20 minutes to see the building burn out,' Gul said.

The attack came at a time when the annual examinations in the whole of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) are in progress, and it is feared that hundreds of girl students would not be able to sit them, as the school was the only one in Charbagh.

The story is sad in itself.  Even more sad is that this is just another example of the media whitewashing of terrorism.

Notice how the reporters of this story carefully avoid calling burning down a girls' school what it is -- a terrorist attack on a civilian school for children.

Instead, the world "terror" is avoided and the terrorists are referred to as "militants" -- as if a girls' school is a military target.  The terrorists are also called "rebels," as if -- hey! -- it's 1776 all over again!  (Doesn't every rebellion include deliberately burning down children's schools?) 

Occasionally, the terrorists are referred to as "fighters" and "insurgents."  Strange, how the "enemy" the "insurgents" are "fighting" is an unarmed school for children.  It's almost as if these "insurgents" are not "fighting" any enemy forces, but rather are preying on the weakest civilians they can find.

The burning down of the school is described as a "raid," as if this was a little military sortie of the kind uniformed troops run when they seek to clear a rooftop of snipers or capture terrorists setting roadside bombs. 

Sure, it's just "raid."  On a children's school.  For the sole purpose of destroying the children's school.  I guess the destruction of a school in Beslan and the killing of numerous children after holding children and teachers hostages for days in September 2004 was also a "raid."

One sure way to support terrorists is to deliberately understate and downplay the degree of evil they intentionally commit.

Describing genuinely evil acts and the terrorists who commit them in value-neutral terms only serves to aid and abet terrorism by suggesting a false equivalence between acts of terror and military action to stop terrorists.  They are, of course, as different as murder and the pursuit of murderers.  They are as different as heinous criminals and police officers charged with apprehending them. 

Some would like to blur the distinction between terrorists and those who are fighting them.  The world such blurring is helping to create -- one in which girls are not allowed to attend school and murder and mayhem run rampant -- is not the kind of world I want to live in, or a world that any decent human being wants to endure. 

We must not only fight terrorism, but also speak out against it as well as its enablers in the media.  That includes those in the media who apply a fresh coat of whitewash to the new round of terror atrocities that each day's news brings.

Update:  Also recommended:  Joseph Myers, American Thinker, Strategic Collapse in the War on Terror.  Here's an excerpt:

Words matter, and in the global war on terror we are losing the battle of words, in a self-inflicted defeat. The consequences could not be more profound.

What Do You Call Ten Terrorists in One House?

A target, of course.

A missile strike in Pakistan, in a region known as an Al Qaeda safe haven, has killed 10 suspected terrorists.

Another One Bites The Dust

By DemocracyRules

A Senior al-Qaida commander in the Afghanistan Pakistan area is killed.

His name was Abu Laith al-Libi, a long-time al-Qaida leader probably killed by a U.S. Predator drone firing a Hellfire missile into his house.  About 12 more terrorists may also have died.

Al-Libi was about one tier below Ayman al-Zawahri, possibly among the top five al-Qaida leaders.

US intelligence beleives that al-Libi instigated a bombing at Bagram Air Force Base in Feb 2007 when Dick Cheney was visiting.  The VP was unhurt.

Mysterious Crowd Stopped Bhutto's Car

Two new reports suggest that the assassination Benazir Bhutto may have been the result of an ambitious plot, rather than an isolated act:

Two new reports on the assassination last month of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto suggest that the killing may have been an ambitious plot rather than an isolated act of violence and that the government of President Pervez Musharraf knows far more than it's admitted about the murder.

A police officer who witnessed the assassination said that a mysterious crowd stopped Bhutto's car that day, moving her to emerge through the sunroof. And a document has surfaced in the Pakistani news media that contradicts the government's version of her death and contains details on the pistol and the suicide bomb used in the murder.

The witness was Ishtiaq Hussain Shah of the Rawalpindi police. As Bhutto's car headed onto Rawalpindi's Liaquat Road after an election rally Dec. 27 , a crowd appeared from nowhere and stopped the motorcade, shouting slogans of her Pakistan Peoples Party and waving party banners, according to his account.

Bhutto, apparently thinking she was greeting her supporters, emerged through the sunroof of the bulletproof car to wave.

It was Shah's job to clear the way for the motorcade. But 10 feet from where he was standing, a man in the crowd wearing a jacket and sunglasses raised his arm and shot at the former prime minister. "I jumped to overpower him," the deputy police superintendent said later. "A mighty explosion took place soon afterwards."

Shah suffered multiple injuries and is recuperating in a Rawalpindi military hospital, guarded by agents of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate.

Who organized the crowd is only one of the mysteries two weeks after the assassination. "I don't know who they were or from where they came," the Rawalpindi officer told Dawn newspaper. "They just appeared on the road."

The second report emerged in the Pakistani daily newspaper The News, with detailed information about the pistol and bomb. It rejects the government's conclusion that Bhutto died when the force of the suicide blast threw her head against the sunroof lever of her car. Such an impact couldn't have fractured her skull, it said. The government refused to confirm the report's authenticity, but a security official verified it to McClatchy . He spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

According to the document, which the paper described as a "top agency" preliminary report, a pistol made by Norinco, a Chinese brand, was recovered from the scene, with the lot number 311-90. An MUV-2 triggering mechanism for the bomb also was found, as had been used in 15 previous suicide bombings in Pakistan , with the same lot number and factory code.

"It is a clear indicator that the same terrorist group is involved in almost all these incidents," concluded the report, which the paper quoted at length.

Another mystery of the case is why so valuable a report has been buried. Among its other conclusions: Bhutto's assassin, after shooting her, detonated his own suicide belt. No ambulance was called, and it took 25 minutes to get her to the hospital, only two miles from the scene.

Bhutto, and her security adviser Rehman Malik , had complained repeatedly that she was given inadequate official security, including mobile phone jammers that didn't work and less than the four-vehicle escort that she thought was needed to protect the four corners of her car. In an e-mail to her U.S. lobbyist, Mark Siegel , in late October, Bhutto wrote that if anything happened to her "I would hold Musharraf responsible," in addition to four individuals she named as plotting to kill her in a letter sent to Musharraf on Oct. 16 .

There was no security cordon around Bhutto— who'd escaped a suicide bombing attack Oct. 18 , the day she returned to Pakistan from self-imposed exile abroad— as she left the park in Rawalpindi. The crime scene was cleared immediately and hosed down, destroying vital evidence. Doctors at the hospital where she was taken, who announced the night it happened that she'd died of bullet wounds to the head and neck, changed their story the next day. There was no autopsy.

Musharraf's government has stuck to its explanation that Bhutto died when she hit her head on the sunroof's lever after the bomb went off, despite the emergence of several videos that show the gunman firing, then Bhutto disappearing into her vehicle before the blast. Officials also turned up what they said was a transcript of a telephone conversation between the supposed masterminds— militant Islamists allied with the Taliban— congratulating each other, the next day.

Scotland Yard detectives, whom Musharraf called in under pressure from home and abroad, have been told that they're to investigate only the cause of death, not the killer's identity. "Providing clarity regarding 'The precise cause of Ms. Bhutto's death' is said to be the principal purpose of the deployment," said Aidan Liddle , a spokesman for the British High Commission in Islamabad .

To many in Pakistan , it all raises questions about whether the government was complicit in the assassination. To others, it points at the very least to a concerted attempt to hide the massive extent of a security failure.

Bhutto's own private-security arrangements seemed poor, chaotic and amateurish. Armored cars are not fitted with sunroofs. Hers was modified in Karachi against all safety advice, according to a security company that operates in that city but spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. After Bhutto's death, her husband made the startling revelation that she'd been guarded by men he'd met in prison.

I don't think the search for blame is particularly helpful in this case.  Yes, it would be important to know if Musharrafs regime orchestrated Bhutto's murder, but if the only evidence we have is that the Pakistani government did not do everything possible to protect Bhutto, that is not particularly useful information.  No government on earth can prevent every terrorist atrocity or conspiracy plot.  No government on earth can provide adequate 24-hour police protection for every citizen, especially high profile citizens who are known terrorist targets and who would require extraordinary levels of protection.  Bhutto did not take every possible precaution for her own safety, either. 

If is not clear that Bhutto could have survived even if she had taken extraordinary care for her own safety and even if she had been protected by heavily armed guards 24 hours per day.  Would anyone suggest that President Bush, for example, could -- without risk to himself -- attend rallies, join in parades and otherwise move freely around Pakistan the way Bhutto did, simply because he is protected by a heavily armed Secret Service detail?

Bhutto was intentionally murdered.  There are plenty of Islamic terrorists in Pakistan whose entire purpose in living is to intentionally murder innocent civilians like Bhutto, particularly when those innocent civilians are harbingers of dreaded democracy.  Let the investigation proceed, and let questions be raised, but until someone comes forward with evidence that the Pakistani government deliberately killed Bhutto, claims that the government is responsible for her death are pointless.  Only the murderers and their co-conspirators are responsible, period.

What matters is the ongoing struggle by Islamic terrorists to seize total control of Pakistan.  That is a battle that the world cannot afford to lose.

What To Do, Now That Bhutto is Gone?

The same thing that we did before, keep pushing Pakistan to adopt real democracy.  I'm sure that is what Benazir Bhutto would have wanted.   When she was Prime Minister, she may not have done a perfect job, but new democracies are always chaotic and poorly run.  She often spoke about democracy, it is what she strove for, and encouraged others toward.

She opposed extremism and advocated a generous, tolerant, mostly secular government.  She was an inspiration to us all, an awesomely brave person who walked into the lion's den for her people. 

Let us honor her by continuing her work. 

Tyrants and assassins always misjudge democracies, thinking that killing the leader will destroy the government.  That's their political system, not ours.  In democracies, we are the government, and when one of us falls, another steps up, stronger and more determined.

To the Lioness of Pakistan

Pro Patria

Pakistan on the Razor's Edge

It's beginning to look as if Pakistani president Musharaff's seizure of emergency power isn't just about responding to the threat from Islamic terrorists.  It's also about the threat to Musharaff's power posed by Benazir Bhutto.  From BBC News:

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has issued what correspondents say is an ultimatum to President Pervez Musharraf to end emergency rule.

She repeated plans for a rally on Friday, despite an official ban, and called for a "long march" next week unless Gen Musharraf changed course.

She insisted that he restore the constitution, hold elections and resign as head of the army.

Gen Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Saturday after months of unrest.

The authorities have warned that police will not allow Friday's demonstration in Rawalpindi, the country's main garrison town, to go ahead.

The city's mayor, Javed Akhlas, said: "We will ensure that they don't violate the ban on rallies, and if they do it, the government will take action according to the law."

He told the Associated Press there was a "strong threat" of another suicide bomb attack against Ms Bhutto, who survived an assassination attempt in Karachi on 18 October that killed more than 140 people.

Key demands

"I appeal to the people of Pakistan to come forward. We are under attack," Ms Bhutto told journalists.  . . . .

She also called for a "long march" starting next Tuesday, 13 November, from Lahore to Islamabad, if her key demands were not met.

They are:

• For the state of emergency to be called off, and the constitution restored
• For General Musharraf to stand down as head of the army
• For elections to be held by mid-January
• For the release of all lawyers, judges and activists arrested in the last few days

"How many people can they put behind bars? We will produce so many that they will not have enough jails," she said.

Pakistan is teetering on a razor's edge.  Bhutto is certainly within her rights to call for a restoration of Pakistan's constitution, but the current chaos also favors Islamic terrorists.  Those terrorists will happily kill Bhutto if and when they get the chance, just as quickly and mercilessly as they would assassinate Musharaff.

Pelosi's Lightbulb Moment in the War on Terror . . . If Only

Scott Ott at Scrappleface is dreaming again -- but it's a beautiful dream:

Pelosi Slams Muslim Ideology Behind Bhutto Blast

. . . Rep. Pelosi, D-CA, said the fact that a prominent female politician was targeted has shaken her thinking about the war on terror.

“This misogynistic massacre has finally got it through my thick skull what President Bush has been trying to tell us for years,” she said. “These terrorists have no legitimate political grievance, no conscience, and no place in civilized society. We must crush them wherever they are to prevent the spread of their poisonous ideology and brutal tactics.”

Rep. Pelosi said that when news of the attack broke, she held a conference call with Senators Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and Barbara Boxer, D-CA. The three women agreed that “if these evil men are willing to attack a beautiful, charismatic female politician overseas, there’s not much to stop them from trying it on U.S. soil.”  . . . .

Sigh.

I'm pretty sure this lightbulb has yet to go on for Madame Speaker Pelosi.  Don't hold your breath for Boxer or Clinton, either.

Bomb Attack Kills 115; Target Was Courageous Former Pakistani PM Bhutto

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has already been the possible target of an assassination attempt that killed at least 115 people on her triumphant return to Pakistan after eight years in exile:

KARACHI, Pakistan - Two explosions went off Thursday night near a truck carrying former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on her celebratory return to Pakistan after eight years in exile. Police said she was unhurt, but hospital officials and witnesses said dozens of others were killed and more than 150 wounded.

There were conflicting reports on the number of people killed in the blasts. The Associated Press, citing hospital officials, reported 108 dead. Reuters, citing witnesses and a police official, reported 115 killed. There was no way to immediately reconcile these differences.

An initial small explosion was followed by a huge blast just feet from the front of the truck carrying Bhutto during a procession through Karachi. The blast shattered windows in her vehicle. Neither Bhutto nor any of the others riding on the truck was hurt, police officer Hasib Beg said.

Ed Morrissey comments at Captains Quarters:

The Taliban and al-Qaeda threatened to kill her if she returned. She has openly supported the American-led war on terror, and has even suggested that the Americans cross the border into Waziristan to assist Pakistan in wiping out the Islamists. They know that her return and pending alliance with Pervez Musharraf puts them at a strong disadvantage in Pakistan, where they had hoped to prevail politically.

More from the NBC News story:

The truck carrying Bhutto was designed to withstand an attack.

Bhutto had stood in plain view on top of the vehicle, ignoring police advice to stay behind its protective glass, as the vehicle edged through crowds. More than 150,000 jubilant supporters had surrounded the convoy carrying Bhutto amid massive security in Karachi.

It was the second time Bhutto escaped an assassination attempt. The first attempt was by al-Qaida in 1993. There have been at least three unsuccessful attempts on the lives of Pakistani leaders since 2003.

The United States on Thursday afternoon condemned the bomb attack. "Extremists will not be allowed to stop Pakistanis from selecting their representatives through an open and democratic process," said Gordon Johndroe, the White House National Security Council spokesman.

Bhutto warned of attacks
Authorities had urged her to travel in Karachi by helicopter to reduce the risk of attack. But Bhutto, hated by radical Islamists because she supports the U.S.-led war on terrorism, brushed off the concerns.

"I am not scared. I am thinking of my mission," she had told reporters on the plane. "This is a movement for democracy because we are under threat from extremists and militants."

Bhutto recently courted controversy in Pakistan by saying that she would cooperate with the American military in targeting Osama bin Laden, and authorities warned that Islamic militants could launch suicide attacks and roadside bombings against her.

Asked about such threats on Wednesday in Dubai, Bhutto said Islam forbids suicide bombings and attacks on her. "Muslims know if they attack a woman they will burn in hell," she said.

The government of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, had appealed to Bhutto to abandon plans for a snail-paced grand procession through Karachi, saying it would leave her vulnerable. The government said the main threat was from Taliban and al-Qaida.

Arriving in Pakistan
Bhutto, who is expected to seek the premiership for an unprecedented third time and partner in ruling Pakistan with U.S.-backed President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, was in tears Thursday as she descended the steps of a commercial flight that brought her from Dubai to Karachi, where jubilant crowds of flag-waving, drum-thumping supporters gave her a rousing welcome.

Bhutto is inspiring renewed hope and joy in Pakistan, but she has to realize that she is now the central target for Islamofascists in Pakistan.  If she truly believes she is safe because "Muslims know if they attack a woman they will burn in hell," she is not long for this world.

But Bhutto is far more savvy than that.  She knows full well the risks she is taking, and she takes those risks because she believes in a much higher purpose.  In her own words today:

AS I board the plane that takes me home to Pakistan today, I carry with me a manuscript of a book I am writing that will be published shortly. It is a treatise on the reconciliation of the values of Islam and the West, and a prescription for a moderate and modern Islam that marginalizes religious extremists, returns the military from politics to their barracks, treats all citizens and especially women with full and equal rights, selects its leaders by free and fair elections, and provides for transparent, democratic governance that addresses the social and economic needs of the people as its highest priority.

To me this is not just a book but a campaign manifesto, a guide to governing. If the people of Pakistan honor me again with an opportunity to lead, I intend to practice what I preach, to have my actions match my rhetoric and to make Pakistan a positive model to 1 billion Muslims around the world.

For 60 years my nation has lurched between military dictatorships and democracy. The promise that is Pakistan has been stifled by political oppression and economic stagnation. For almost a decade we have been ruled by a military dictatorship. For the last five years we have been challenged by an international terrorism movement that seems unfortunately to have the tribal areas of Pakistan at its very epicenter. These are not ordinary times, and they require extraordinary solutions.

Over the last several months I have negotiated with General Pervez Musharraf to simultaneously ensure a transition to democracy in Pakistan and to mobilize the moderate middle of our society to confront and contain fanatics and extremists. It has been a difficult process, made even more difficult by the resistance of many who now enjoy power in Pakistan to accepting a democratic alternative. But the long discussions have borne some fruit.

In September, Musharraf promised to Pakistan's Supreme Court to retire from the post of army chief before taking the oath of office for president for a new term. This month, the government of Pakistan announced a set of confidence-building measures codified initially in the Ordinance of National Reconciliation to pave the way for a legitimate and accountable Parliament.

It is not a perfect agreement, and it certainly is not an end to the process. But it is an important beginning to the transition to democracy, with the goal of bringing reform and political change without the chaos and bloodshed under which extremism and militancy thrive. In the next phase, more confidence-building measures are expected.

As I board the plane to Pakistan, I am fully aware that the supporters of the Taliban and Al Qaeda have publicly threatened my assassination.

Baitullah Mehsud, a Taliban commander, has said that his terrorists will "welcome" me on my return. Everyone understands the meaning of these comments. And I fully understand the men behind Al Qaeda. They have tried to assassinate me twice before. The Pakistan Peoples Party and I represent everything they fear the most - moderation, democracy, equality for women, information, and technology. We represent the future of a modern Pakistan, a future that has no place in it for ignorance, intolerance, and terrorism.

The forces of moderation and democracy must, and will, prevail against extremism and dictatorship. I will not be intimidated. I will step out on the tarmac in Karachi not to complete a journey, but to begin one. Despite threats of death, I will not acquiesce to tyranny, but rather lead the fight against it.

This is rare courage indeed.

Another Fake Bin Laden Video Swallowed Whole by Uncurious Print and Broadcast Media

So once again we have video "from Osama Bin Laden" that consists of old video of Bin Laden only (back to the partially grey beard), spliced with current audio of someone who claims to be Bin Laden.

The incurious, naive print and broadcast media once again uncritically report that Bin Laden is speaking in the "video," with no mention of the suspicious nature of this video or the two most recent Bin Laden videos in which the image of Bin Laden was frozen whenever the video referred to current events and there were multiple unexplained splices:

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on Pakistanis to rebel against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a new recording released Thursday, saying his military's siege of a militant mosque stronghold makes him an infidel.

The storming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad in July "demonstrated Musharraf's insistence on continuing his loyalty, submissiveness and aid to America against the Muslims ... and makes armed rebellion against him and removing him obligatory," bin Laden said in the message.

"So when the capability is there, it is obligatory to rebel against the apostate ruler, as is the case now," he said.

Bin Laden's voice was heard over video showing previously released footage of the terror leader. The video was released Thursday on Islamic militant Web sites and first reported by Laura Mansfield, an American terrorism expert who monitors militant message traffic.

The message, titled "Come to Jihad," was the third from bin Laden this month in a flurry of videos and audiotapes marking the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

As I've mentioned before, it's possible that Bin Laden is not releasing current images of himself in order to conceal his current appearance.  In that case, he and Al Qaeda need to be called out on the cowardice of the supposed "Lion" and "Al Qaeda chief" Bin Laden.

The more likely scenario is that Bin Laden is dead -- and what's left of Al Qaeda is cranking out one fake video after another, giving their own pronouncements extra heft by putting them into the mouth of a dead man. 

Have the mainstream print and broadcast media analyzed the recent Bin Laden videos?  No. Have they interviewed experts on video fakery or experts in voice imitation?  No. At most reporters have asked one or two government officials whether the videos are genuine, and have taken at face value their off-handed dismissals or changes of subject.  Since when is uncritical acceptance of off-the-cuff reactions of public officials the standard for reliable journalism?  Only when it serves someone's political agenda. 

The most important political agenda should be the truth.

When it comes to ferreting out secrets of the West's war on terror, including programs to detect terrorists before they strike, the print media are all over it.  But Al Qaeda propaganda is passed along unblushingly without so much as an "allegedly" or "claimed" or "purportedly." 

Bin Laden video propaganda is poisonous and deadly stuff.  That is why it's being created and released.  It cannot be allowed to continue unchallenged.  If Bin Laden is alive, let him prove it.  Until it does, it should be assumed that he is dead and that presumption should be spread around the world.

Meanwhile, those who call themselves journalist still have a lot to prove themselves.  Based on their uncritical acceptance thus far of these recent Bin Laden videos known to contain multiple splices without even bothering to interview video forensics experts, the major print and broadcast media are demonstrating naivete to the point of foolishness.  They are also demonstrating themselves to be poorly informed and unreliable. 

How long can this foolishness go on?  Will the uncritical acceptance of fake Bin Laden propaganda videos continue for years, until reporters finally realize that Bin Laden has become implausibly old?

Surely there must be a few mainstream editors and reporters who will take a closer look at the latest Bin Laden videos and raise the question of whether Al Qaeda might be engaging in video fakery to keep its former leader "alive" past his expiration date.

Earlier:

• BREAKING NEWS: Vindicated! The Bin Laden Videos Are Fakes!
• Both Recent Osama Bin Laden Videos Are Sock Puppet Fakery
• Is the Bin Laden Video a Forgery?

BREAKING NEWS: Vindicated! The Bin Laden Videos Are Fakes!

I blogged about the possible fakery in the recent Bin Laden video four days ago on September 9th ("Is the Bin Laden Video a Forgery?") and again two days ago on September 11th ("Both Recent Osama Bin Laden Videos Are Sock Puppet Fakery"), and now it's been confirmed:

On the Friday before the sixth anniversary of 9/11, Osama bin Laden appeared in a new video, his first since prior to the U.S. presidential elections in 2004. In analyzing the video, Neal Krawetz of Hactor Factor, an expert on digital image forensics, said in his latest blogs that the video contained many visual and audio splices, and that all of the modifications were of very low quality.

Most striking is bin Laden's beard, which has been gray in recent images. For this video it is black. "As far as my tools can detect, there has been no image manipulation of the bin Laden portion of the image beyond contrast adjustment. His beard really does appear to be that color." The Washington Post has the full video here.

Krawetz says the inner frame of bin Laden was resaved at least twice, and not at the same time. The images show fine horizontal stripes on bin Laden and a background indicating these came from interlaced video sources. In contrast, the text elements, such as the As-Sahab logo, appear to be from non-interlaced sources.

The September 7 video shows bin Laden dressed in a white hat, white shirt and yellow sweater. Krawetz notes "this is the same clothing he wore in the 2004-10-29 video. In 2004 he had it unzipped, but in 2007 he zipped up the bottom half. Besides the clothing, it appears to be the same background, same lighting, and same desk. Even the camera angle is almost identical." Krawetz also notes that "if you overlay the 2007 video with the 2004 video, his face has not changed in three years--only his beard is darker and the contrast on the picture has been adjusted."

More important though are the edits. At roughly a minute and a half into the video there is a splice; bin Laden shifts from looking at the camera to looking down in less than 1/25th of a second. At 13:13 there is a second, less obvious splice. In all, Krawetz says there are at least six splices in the video. Of these, there are only two live bin Laden segments, the rest of the video composed of still images. The first live section opens the video and ends at 1:56. The second section begins at 12:29 and continues until 14:01. The two live sections appear to be from different recordings "because the desk is closer to the camera in the second section."

Then there are the audio edits. Krawetz says "the new audio has no accompanying 'live' video and consists of multiple audio recordings." References to current events are made only during the still frame sections and after splices within the audio track." And there are so many splices that I cannot help but wonder if someone spliced words and phrases together. I also cannot rule out a vocal imitator during the frozen-frame audio. The only way to prove that the audio is really bin Laden is to see him talking in the video," Krawetz says.

As I wrote on September 11th:

There is no plausible explanation for Bin Laden's video image to be frozen in two separate videos while he is speaking of recent events-- except for video fakery. 

I'm more convinced than ever that Bin Laden is dead or that he has dramatically altered his appearance and seeks to avoid detection.  Either way, the video images we are seeing are years out of date.

Given the strange references to liberal hot-button issues like global warming in the latest Bin Laden video and other oddities, I think it more likely that Bin Laden is dead and that the "Bin Laden" videos are being entirely ghost-written.

As a practical matter, the West should proceed on the working assumption that Bin Laden is dead unless and until Al Qaeda produces credible video of Bin Laden in which his lips are moving when he speaks of current events.

When we fall for sock puppetry, we are being played for chumps by jihadists.  In addition to lending aid and comfort to America's enemies by our naivete, we waste precious, irreplaceable time foolishly debating the wrong questions such as "Why haven't we yet caught Bin Laden?" and whether we should withdraw from Iraq in order to look for Bin Laden in Afghanistan.

If Bin Laden is alive, let Al Qaeda prove it.  Their video sock puppetry suggests otherwise.  Either they are engaged in an elaborate double hoax to lead the world to believe that Bin Laden is dead when he really is not (a hoax which the world has yet to even recognize), or, more likely, Bin Laden is indeed worm food and the jihadists are working with their dwindling supply of old videotape and one of Bin Laden's many male relatives to record the audio track.

I am surprised that more in the blogosphere, especially on the right, have not yet sounded the alarm about the apparent Bin Laden video fakery.  In their defense, it has been a busy news week with General Petraeus's testimony to Congress and the 9/11 anniversary.  Further, the conclusion that the videos are fakes is a matter of opinion, although one supported by the evidence in hand.

As we have learned through one media mistake and distortion after another in the war on terror discovered only by the blogosphere, we cannot rely on the Associated Press or Reuters to recognize a fake when it is presented to them.  That is our job. I'm calling foul.

Remember, you read it here before you heard it from the AP, Reuters, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, or the New York Times.

Let's see how long it takes them to catch up.

Update:  Consider all the foolish stories being uncritically printed and broadcast by the media this week that make no sense in light of this evidence.  Journalists are reporting that Osama Bin Laden is "taunting" the U.S. in his latest video. 

No, some dweeb with video editing equipment in a back room is "taunting" the U.S., while Bin Laden is mouldering in the grave (or -- remote possibility -- while he is cowering somewhere afraid to make a video that shows his current appearance). That Bin Laden is long dead is far more likely.  It's a better fit with the facts and with what we know about human nature and the nature of terrorists.

But why does it matter?

Let me ask this in return:  Should America be sending more troops to hunt for Bin Laden in Afghanistan?  Or would that be a colossal waste of time, money, soldiers' lives, energy, and resources -- because Bin Laden is already dead?

Are we better off staying to fight Al Qaeda right where we are in Iraq?

It's rather an important question, wouldn't you say?  It's more important than any other lead story you'll find in the print or broadcast media today, isn't it?

And yet we have total silence from the print and broadcast media on this story so far.  What's their excuse?  They have yet to even recognize that the issue of video fakery exists, let alone report the evidence that confirms these videos are fakes.

Update:  A little example of Bin Laden video fakery for your amusement.

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Osama Bin Laden Rears His Ugly Head Again -- But Is He Dead or Alive?

A video of Osama bin Laden will supposedly be released soon.  JawaReport has the latest, including a link to the audio already released.  I'm with Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, who writes:  "I remain 97.33% convinced that bin Laden’s been dead for a long time."

Based on a comparison of old and "new" video of Bin Laden posted at Allahpundit, Bin Laden must have access to Grecian Formula in his cave (his beard is now black and trimmed) but he seems to be wearing the same outfit and possibly standing in front of the same backdrop as in 2004.  (The color of the backdrop is similar but the texture may be different.)  The identical or virtually identical outfits are rather odd.   

We'll have to see how convincing the new video is, and whether it shows Bin Laden referring to current events.  The change in the beard by itself doesn't convince me of anything.  That would be too easy to fake.

Update 1:  Red Alerts notes (via Gateway Pundit) that several jihadists with websites seem to be engaging in odd, possibly worrisome behavior, including posting a jihadist suicide note and signing off to "move to another country." 

Update 2:  An interesting hypothesis:  If the beard is a fake put on for purposes of the video, Bin Laden may be living beardless in a part of the world where many men do not have beards.

Update 3:  The tape appears to refer to recent events, such as election outcomes in the U.S. and France.  Let the possibility prompt all decent, civilized nations to redouble their resolve to bring this murderer's mangy hide to justice.

A Song of Peace from Pakistan

From Gateway Pundit, news of a hit song from Pakistan, about saying no to terrorism!

Listen to Yeh Hum Naheen: Say No to Terrorism.

It's beautiful.

Read more about the song at Gateway Pundit.