Duke Professor Skeptical of bin Laden Tape

[FreedomAngel82]

I'm sorry if this has been posted before. :blush:

Link: http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=local&id=3828678

Snip: <(01/19/06 -- DURHAM) - A Duke professor says he is doubtful about Thursday's audiotape from Osama bin Laden.
Bruce Lawrence has just published ?Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden,? a book translating bin Laden?s writing. He is skeptical of Thursday?s message.

?It was like a voice from the grave,? Lawrence said.

He thinks bin Laden is dead and has doubts about the tape. Lawrence recently analyzed more than 20 complete speeches and interviews of the al Qaida leader for his book. He says the new message is missing several key elements.

?There?s nothing in this from the Koran. He?s, by his own standards, a faithful Muslim,? Lawrence said. ?He quotes scripture in defense of his actions. There?s no quotation from the Koran in the excerpts we got, no reference to specific events, no reference to past atrocities.? >

More at link...

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. Thanks

My first thought when I read the transcript... no way is this Bin Laden.

[bbinacan]

2. I hope he's

right and the bastard is dead.

[FreedomAngel82]

4. Check out whatreallyhappened.com

They have some articles there.

[aquart]

6. But...but...the CIA said it was Bin Ladin's voice.

And they would never lie.

[FreedomAngel82]

8. And they figured it out in four hours?

I've heard the FBI is saying they're saying "not so fast" on that.

[niyad]

3. gee, does this surprise anyone? we all read the WaPo article on

voice morphing (not that we needed to, as we all know the cia is perfectly capable of doing just that)
they are getting sloppy and far too obvious, though.

[FreedomAngel82]

10. In the tape gotten by Al-Jazeera

do they have the translater guy or is it his original voice? I'm listening to the tape on Miller's show and they have two different people doing the voice overs. :shrug:

[Richard Steele]

5. Bruce Lawrence is a bright guy. He knows what he is talking about.

He has studied and dissected all of Osama's writings and speeches,
and he has boiled them down and studied them again.

He knows what the WORLD knows: the tape is a second-rate FAKE.

All the "voice-synthesis technology" won't cover up
for a piss-poor SCRIPT!

[Swamp Rat]

11. It was written by a non-native arabic speaker, and possibly read by

someone whose voice was processed with samples of Osama's voice.

(snip)

"MAMOUN FANDY: Right, but this particular tape is not terribly inspiring, just looking at the language of it. This is the first tape of bin Laden that has no single verse from the Koran. It does not have the flowery language of Arabic.

It seems to me that it is written in English first, and then translated into Arabic. It is very western style of tape. It is not very characteristic of bin Laden, at least it tells me that the non-Arabic speaking within the al-Qaida network are taking over the organization --

JIM LEHRER: You mean he didn't write this is what you are suggesting?

MAMOUN FANDY: The Arabic speakers in al-Qaida, the parts that are coming from the Arab world, are losing to the non-Arabic speaker, so it's really becoming more of a South Asian organization, rather than an Arab organization."

(snip)

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terrorism/jan-june06/osama_1-19.html

[FreedomAngel82]

16. And I read another article here on DU

that said how it was first written in English and then translated to Arabic. And what keeps bugging me is how "he" says "God" instead of "Allah" when he's never said "God" before (even though they are the same). And a Muslim extremist not quoting from the Quran? That's very strange. That's like Robertson not quoting from the Bible.

[Swamp Rat]

19. "That's like Robertson not quoting from the Bible." - BINGO!!!

EXCELLENT talking point! :applause:

[Richard Steele]

20. Thanks, Swamp-Meister! I was going to bring that up, if anyone responded.

The GIST of it is:
People who actually SPEAK Arabic cried "foul" the minute they heard it.

It is crystal clear to them that the words were
originally written in ENGLISH, and then TRANSLATED.

You don't need a degree in linguistics to recognize
this sort of thing.
Anyone of us has had to deal with this concept;
and the "translated" thing just sticks out like a sore thumb.

It's like reading the manual to the last piece of electronic hardware
you purchased...
The "English" might be utterly perfect,
there's nothing yer mean old HS English Teacher
could use her red pen on...
But it's just WRONG.

It only takes you 5 seconds to realize that the manual
was translated, however expertly, from a language
which bears ZERO resemblance to English.

ARABIC-speaking peoples experienced that same feeling
with this latest tape.

It's a fake.

[FreedomAngel82]

13. I'm glad to know that

And how funny of the timing and how he's repeating all the rightwing talk show hosts are repeating how he sounds like democrats and Miller also pointed the tape came at Bush's lowest approval raitings.

[me b zola]

7. Well, this makes the second professor who has questions re obl tape

Thanks for the link, Angel

[FreedomAngel82]

17. Really?

I hope they speak out. I saw this on Alex Jones' website and had to post since it deals with the recent tape.

[me b zola]

22. The person that SwampRat referred to upthread is who I was speaking of

Mr. Fandy, if I recall correctly, is a professor at a major university. It is late and my computer is too slow for me to click on the PBS link that SwampRat provided, but I recomend checking it out.

[Cleita]

9. Yep, the evidence keeps coming doesn't it?

Thanks for posting this.

[AtomicKitten]

12. I don't believe this was recent.

There is no question the administration pulls bin Laden out of their collective asses when in trouble or for a carefully timed event such as the 2004 election. But nevertheless the boogyman always works on the sheep and sets tongues a-wagging.

[FreedomAngel82]

15. Yep

He's been dead for years I'm convienced. I do have this video from an ABC news report and they are in Saudi Arabia and telling how someone who is a key person of the "war on terror" has turned himself over. This person is on a small plane and has to be carried off and pushed in a wheelchair. When the person is being carried off the plane you can see for a few seconds a good shot of the person and I swear it's BinLadin. Then when he's off and in a wheelchair being pushed the camera gets a close up on him and you see this person hiding their face, especially their nose which I found quite strange. :shrug: I don't remember where I found this video and I wish I saved the link.

[tularetom]

14. Thanks for posting this

We always like to have our opinions validated. When I first saw this I said the lying bastards are at it again, no way in hell that is bin Laden. It was a better fake than the notorious "fat Osama" but something about it just didn't ring true to me. It's good to have a learned individual share my belief, even if he is from Puke University.

[FreedomAngel82]

18. And I think it's interesting how it's an audio tape

How many audio tapes has he done? Doesn't he usually do video tapes?

[OnyxCollie]

21. Yeah, it's fake.

Just like that "letter from Zarqawi" where he asks for money.

[raysr]

23. It's a fake. Just heard

Carlson mocking all the dem talking points in the tape, what are the chances of that happening? Unless he really is working for the pukes. "OBL actually actually repuke operative". New talking point.