Counterterrorism Blog

Image from Osama bin Laden's latest tape.

Some early quotes from CNN's translation: "I say to Bush, you should deliver the body to his family, and don't be too happy. Our flag hasn't fallen. Thanks to God, it has passed from one lion to another lion in Islam... You have prevented Abu Musab from entering his homeland alive. Don't stand in his way now... Our dear Muslim nation, we were deeply saddened by the passing of our loved ones, Abu Musab and his companions. But we were very happy that their souls have flooded these great battles as they were defending the Islamic law... We were very happy to find in him a symbol and role model for our future generations." And more quotes from the AP: "Our Islamic nation was surprised to find its knight, the lion of jihad (holy war), the man of determination and will, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, killed in a shameful American raid. Even if we lost one of our greatest knights and and princes, we are happy that we have found a symbol for our great Islamic nations, one that the mujahedeen will remember and praise in poetry and in stories secretly and aloud." Laura Mansfield has a complete copy of the tape in Arabic.

Evan Kohlmann on MSNBC: Tape doesn't indicate that any incidents are on the horizon - OBL is jumping on Zarqawi's coattails and using his legacy - ironic since OBL always had problems and Zarqawi is more useful to OBL dead - the tape is subtitled only in arabic, so the intended audience are those primarily supportive of Al Qaeda in Mideast (tapes intended for the West are subtitled in English and American recruits are used in producing these tapes) - OBL is saying Zarqawi's death is only a bump in the road and a sign of moving towards victory, and Al Qaeda appreciates Zarqawi's role - Zarqawi is the "rock star" and Iraq became the front line since the US arrived there - Americans have nothing to fear from this but it was intentionally put out in time for July 4th, as OBL and Al Qaeda are very media-savvy.

Steven Emerson on MSNBC on 6/30 (excerpts): "This was not a message for the West, unlike previous messages of, maybe, six months ago. This was a message to the Arab masses and he is trying to undermine some Arab regimes, particularly Jordan, so he can get Zarqawi buried in that country. Either he is in frail condition or some type of sick condition that would make it very obvious on camera or it’s an operational security matter for him. So, he is discovering that he can instill home-grown jihadists around the world simply by putting out these messages, without having to worry about logistically organizing attacks himself. I think there are increasing incidents of cells motivated by his ideology, but [that] are not taking orders from him, because they don’t need to."

Bill Roggio: Initial reports focus on Osama’s eulogizing of Zarqawi. Keep in mind the initial press reports often omit important facts in these tapes and focus on one or two of the sensational themes of the tape. Osama's reaction to Zarqawi's death is a sensational issue for the media. It is likely Osama discusses Zarqawi's successor in this tape, as 19 minutes is a long time to focus on Zarqawi. (UPDATED 6/30: See Walid Phares' post above.)

This video is about 19 minutes long and shows a still image of OBL and moving images of Zarqawi. There have been no fresh videos of OBL since October 2004. You can see a list of audio and videotapes from OBL here.

The tape was produced by Al Sabah, al-Qaeda's media wing (for a good look at how al-Qaeda produces and distributes its tapes, see this article from the Associated Press).