Bin Laden - Moussaoui Not Linked to 9/11

One wonders about the timing of this AP article entitled "Bin Laden - Moussaoui Not Linked to 9/11".  We had our trial, found him guilty, imprisoned him for life.  And now Bin Laden basically says, we got the wrong terrorist.

He had no connection at all with Sept. 11," the speaker, claiming to be bin Laden, said in the tape posted on the Internet.

"I am the one in charge of the 19 brothers and I never assigned brother Zacarias to be with them in that mission," he said, referring to the 19 hijackers.

http://news.yahoo.com/...

The al-Qaida chief said the Sept. 11 hijackers were divided into two groups, "pilots and assistants."

"Since Zacarias Moussaoui was still learning how to fly, he wasn't No. 20 in the group, as your government has claimed," bin Laden said. "It knows this very well," he added.

Bin Laden said Moussaoui was not a security risk for al-Qaida, because he did not have knowledge of the plot.

"Brother Moussaoui was arrested two weeks before the events, and if he had known something -- even very little -- about the Sept. 11 group, we would have informed the leader of the operation, Mohammad Atta, and the others ... to leave America before being discovered," Bin Laden said.

So, regardless of whether Bin Laden is telling the truth, now we'll have a news cycle with Bin Laden again...just after the CATO institute releases "Power Surge" and stories swirl around Karl Rove, NSA domestic datamining of phone records and survellience of ISP usage, and other bad news for GOP.  Time to go to Orange Alert?  

[Updated paragraph]
I smell counter-intel agit prop in this.  We start off with Moussaouri trial being portrayed as our token victory of 'justice' over the 9/11 event.  Then having Bin Laden 'reveal' this as foolishness could be calculated to incite (per Rovian logic) average Americans to want real blood, perhaps Iranian.  Maybe we'll soon get tantilizing tidbit news from highly placed sources that Osama has been frequenting Iran and is 'on the border' with it frequently.
[Added]
Odd...it appears this diary picked up many more Little Green Football comments than DKos ones.

The below LGP post:
piglet's post
matches some interesting comments I got from other sources.

•  Half listening at work, heard about the tape,

  thought "Is there an election this week"?

  That's how cynical we've become about Bin Laden, I guess.

  by maggiemae on Tue May 23, 2006 at 03:45:38 PM PDT

•  I doubt we're the audience he cares about

  He's probably assuring his followers and sympathizers that he is untouched by Moussaui's fate. It's hard to argue with that.

  by Buddha Hat on Tue May 23, 2006 at 03:51:05 PM PDT

  •  that, and also

    that Americans are clueless, bordering on retarded.
    And that there is no justice in America.  
    In other words he is deliberately reinforcing the growing world perception . . .

    by Deward Hastings on Tue May 23, 2006 at 05:41:47 PM PDT

•  If they were actually interested in 'justice'

  ...they would bring KSM up for trial. That would be one that would be an easy conviction, an easy death sentence, and would actually be a pound of flesh for 9/11. That whole thing with Moussaoui was a fucking joke, a disgrace, and a disservice to Americans.....especially the families of the victims. Im far from being shocked about anything anymore......but these guys cant even pick up an easy win for themselves. KSM cant possibly have any relevant operational info anymore....and even if we did torture the hell out of him....you would be hard pressed to find many people who would give a shit I would think. And really......when have they cared what people think about their actions anyway?

  by Diggla on Tue May 23, 2006 at 03:53:41 PM PDT

•  Like I am going put any stock into

  what OBL says.

  by Mason6883 on Tue May 23, 2006 at 03:55:45 PM PDT

•  Bin Laden is probably dead...

  ... since December 2001.

  That would be my guess.

  Also the opinion of Pakistan's Musharraf, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, US Federal Bureau of Investigation's counter-terrorism chief, Dale Watson, etc.

  Links to mainstream sources here:
  http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/...

  From http://news.yahoo.com/...

  Two counterterrorism officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. intelligence is aware of the bin Laden message. One of the officials said there is no reason to doubt its authenticity.

  Would bin Laden being dead count as a reason to doubt its authenticity?

  by free speach 07 on Tue May 23, 2006 at 03:57:08 PM PDT

  •  nah ..

    He's in Dick Cheney's spider hole ..

    by shpilk on Tue May 23, 2006 at 04:18:46 PM PDT

•  your poll needs a sixth option

  To wit, that bin Laden is telling the truth.

  It will be a sad commentary on this country, when the histories come to be written: therein it will state that what bin Laden says here is closer to the truth, in re Moussaoui, then that truth that emerged there in Virginia, from the American criminal justice system.

  If you put aside animus towards bin Laden, and concentrate on the message, rather than the messenger, his remarks tend to make more sense than what was presented by the US government in its case against Moussaoui:

  "I begin by talking about the honorable brother Zacarias Moussaoui.

  "The truth is that he has no connection whatsoever with the events of Sept. 11, and I am certain of what I say, because I was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers—Allah have mercy upon them—with those raids, and I did not assign brother Zacarias to be with them on that mission. And his confession that he was assigned to participate in those raids is a false confession that no intelligent person doubts is a result of the pressure put upon him for the past four and a half years.

  "And were this pressure lifted from him for him to return to his normal state, he would state the fact I mentioned. And among the things that confirm this fact is that the participants in Sept. 11 were two groups: pilots and support teams for each pilot in order to control the aircraft. And since Zacarias Moussaoui was learning how to fly, it follows that he wasn't component No. 20 from the teams that helped to control the airplanes, as your government previously claimed, and your government knows this fact with certainty.

  "And if Moussaoui was studying aviation to become a pilot of one of the planes, then let him tell us the names of those assigned to help him control the plane. But he won't be able to tell us their names, for a simple reason: that in fact they don't exist. This is from one perspective, and from another perspective, the brother

  "Moussaoui was arrested two weeks before the events, and had he known anything—however little—about the September 11 group, we would have told the brother Commander Mohammed Atta and his brothers—Allah have mercy upon them—to leave America immediately before their affair was exposed. And with this it becomes clear to even the novice investigator—not to mention the seasoned one—that there is no connection between him and the events of September 11."

  by blueness on Tue May 23, 2006 at 04:14:55 PM PDT

•  Moussaoui statements

  Didn't Moussaoui at one time claim he was supposed to be involved in a different operation scheduled later than the 9/11 one?

  by Catte Nappe on Tue May 23, 2006 at 04:19:21 PM PDT

•  The only thing I'd be interested in hearing

  Bin Laden say is:

  "Al-Zawahiri, I am dying"

  by captainlaser on Tue May 23, 2006 at 04:19:46 PM PDT

  •  I'd rather...

    ...hear him say, "Supermax sucks."

    by Alkibiadesdog on Tue May 23, 2006 at 04:31:23 PM PDT

    •  I'd rather hear him say...

      "President Bush... I wish I could quit you..."

      by ThatsNotFunny on Tue May 23, 2006 at 08:04:30 PM PDT

•  Unfortunately, he'll go to Gitmo

  and become a martyr.

  Let him have his 72 virgins.  I'm pretty sure that they are running out of those.

  by captainlaser on Tue May 23, 2006 at 04:41:42 PM PDT

•  I checked over at

  LGF, and sure enough, they are making fun of you for beliving anything that terrorist OBL will feed you.

  It’s a softball pitch to the mainstream media and the “progressive” left, who will now respond by spinning this meaningless statement against Bush. The Associated Press is testing the water in the lead paragraph above.

  That was at 3:19. Sure enough, at 5:45, you have this, which was so easily predictable.

  Moussaouri was our token victory of 'justice' over the 9/11 event.

  What was your beef with the  Moussaouri trial? The gov't had to prove thier case 3 times, and he is not going to be executed (which I though was the right thing to [prision for life that is], and I am for the death penalty). 'Token victory?'  So the fact that he is in prision for life means nothing?

  by Mason6883 on Tue May 23, 2006 at 04:46:09 PM PDT

  •  That he's in prison for life

    but not for a credible 9/11 role means the very expensive, highly visible trial was futile.  That's the 'take away' message someone really wants us to have.  We're supposed to feel "We got nothing on Osama and his special gang, and there is still a massive legal and moral deficit outstanding."  That's my point.  This 'event' is aimed at creating feelings of frustration.  I don't accept this 'message'.

    My beef with the trial is the rank futility of it.  Even before this announcement, it seemed rather small beans to have this inconsequential and apparently crazy person stand trial.  

    My beef with the story is, exactly as predicted, the attempt to make this a story that 'the token victory our US justice system rendered has just been rendered moot'.  And I really don't have any stake in that trial.  It never seemed like a productive solution to me.  My focus was projecting this story frame as the frame it would probably get.

    by antirove on Tue May 23, 2006 at 05:01:57 PM PDT

  •  Hmm...LGF finds your comments interesting too

    One of the Children of the Cornhole is on to us.

    by antirove on Tue May 23, 2006 at 05:41:57 PM PDT

    •  Wow

      "Children of the cornhole"

      Very mature.

      Thanks for showing me that, I'm still trying to figure out just why he said that.

      by Mason6883 on Tue May 23, 2006 at 06:20:45 PM PDT

  •  its not token like that...

    it's token because he played no role in the 9/11 attacks. He was already in FBI custody at that point.

    "So the fact that he is in prision for life means nothing?"

    It's not that he wasn't executed its that the government brought up this trumped up charge to begin with. Arrest him on something else.

    by bigbrassones on Wed May 24, 2006 at 01:31:27 AM PDT

•  I don't know about this.

  I seem to recall right after 9/11 bin Laden said that he didn't plan 9/11, but trained the people who took it upon themselves to plan it.  He basically took credit for it, in this way, but didn't actively send anyone to do this.

  It is hard for me to see why he would pipe up, now, to say that we got the wrong guy, even if true.

  I am cynical: there was technology demonstrated in 1999 that can take a bit of recorded voice of someone and then provide audio of that person saying...well, basically anything.  So it wouldn't be far-fetched to have some if not all of the bin Laden tapes in the last few years manufactured by this White House, and used for propaganda purposes.  And have them be vague enough that their authenticity can still be questioned later if it is discovered OBL is actually dead, and has been for years.

  And the people who can vouch for the authenticity?  The very government which might be fabricating the tapes.

  by Stymnus on Tue May 23, 2006 at 04:57:54 PM PDT

•  Great!

  Mr. Bin Laden, if you just wouldn't mind coming to a courtroom, swearing to tell the truth on the Koran, and testifying to that effect, we'll be in business.

  Honest.  Come on down to 30 Centre Street.  Pretty please?

  by Jay Elias on Tue May 23, 2006 at 05:05:22 PM PDT

•  ohmygod another OBL tape

  And we believe this because...?

  OBL is the new Goldstein... (1984)

  by joel3000 on Tue May 23, 2006 at 05:29:03 PM PDT

•  Yes, this is a shocker!

  OBL, terrorist mastermind, controling the destruction of the West from his camp in Afghanistan, outwitting the intelligence forces that the American taxpayer has probably spent billions on over the last three decades?

  That's what we are supposed to believe.

  Is that consistent with hiring a guy who is obviously bonkers? Who got caught well before 9/11? "I only want to learn to take-off, not land?"

  Please!

  Would any would-be 'mastermind' of anything hire the mr.M? Didn't M testify that he was working in tandem with that other genius, the 'shoe bomber'? It's truly pathetic that one dollar was wasted on this trial.,

  Personally, I don't even think OBL was responsible, though, if I remember correctly, after initial denials, he took credit for it.

  IMOP, "smoking OBL out of his hole, getting him on the run and bringing him to justice", would solve exactly zero of our problems.

  Nonetheless, Bush promised the American people he would do it - and of course he didn't.

  M was a convenient stand in.

  by tgs1952 on Tue May 23, 2006 at 05:48:02 PM PDT

•  Any tape attributed to OBL is worthless

  in my opinion.  I don't know what his voice sounds like, I don't know arabic or trust the translation to be accurate or trust those that vouch for these tape's authenticity.  Its all useless noise to me.

  by stirringstill on Tue May 23, 2006 at 07:37:31 PM PDT

•  Just a Suggestion.

  If BushCo trots out a supposed tape of Osama bin Laden, or reports that Osama said this-or-that on some jihadist website or in a sound recording "believed to be genuine," er, consider the source.

  I don't know whether bin Laden is alive or dead, whether he had a role in the 9-11 attacks or not, whether he remains a CIA/AmeriKills asset or not -- but I DO know that much of his function, dead or alive, is as Merka's bogeyman.  He trots out periodically, oddly enough it seems for the most part when Bush's poll numbers are tanking, and the Merkan population needs to be FRIGHTENED AGAIN, so as to ignore Cheney over there behind the curtain, doing unspeakably evil deeds.

  It's funny, supposedly this Islamist fanatic has released, what is it by now, half a dozen "messages" directed to America and to the West on various terror and 9-11 related subjects.  Since the "Big Wedding," that is.

  So far as I am aware, all of these supposed messages from "Osama" have been pronounced by him in Arabic, and we have been told by AmeriKills just what it was that Osama supposedly said.

  I'm just a country lawyer, but if bin Laden, let's suppose because he's a fervent Muslim who believes that, by the power of the bad experiences that Merka has been put through since 2001, plus the mighty spirit of Allah, the determination of jihadist fighters such as himself and so forth, thinks that some millions of Merkans might be peeled off from BushCo by the force of his arguments (and, actually, reporters who met with bin Laden years ago deemed him a highly intelligent, passionate, and compelling personality) why the Sam Hill would Osama not then address us Merkans IN THE MERKAN LANGUAGE, which I am told he speaks fluently?

  I'd sure give English a shot if I were Osama (given NSA and other Big Brother surveillance, I guess I should say here emphatically that I AM NOT OSAMA, AND HAVE NO IDEA CONCERNING HIS POSSIBLE WHEREABOUTS, AND I DON'T LIKE HIM).  Very, very few Merkans are much good at Arabic, and if I were an actual Arab jihadist (which I'm not!) trying to do that Tokyo Rose thing with tapes and videos, I'd definitely not leave it up to the Merkan intelligence services to convey to the Merkan people whatever it was that I was trying to tell them.

  'cause the Merkan guvmint tends, y'know to sort of "spin" things to advance its own political agenda.  Or at least, so I'm told.

  Let me go out on a limb and say that, if Osama was so damn smart that, from a cave in Afghanistan and without the use of his cell phone (fearing interception) he could provide leadership to the 9-11 "Arab hijackers," and the latter were instructed sufficiently to elude our multibrazillion-dollar air defenses, flying planes around for hours and shit while knocking buildings down, I'd wager he'd be sophisticated enough to be aware that Merkans, by and large, speak English (and Spanish, and additional languages) -- but seldom Arabic.

  I'm not tryin to help the bastard out, mind you (gee, am I "aiding terra" by mentioning this, and now liable to be water-boarded at Guantanamo by Alberto Gonzales?  I sure hope not).  But personally, while I don't like any of that stuff that supposedly Osama says he's in favor of, if the Merkan government announces what Osama supposedly put on a tape or video in Arabic, but addressed even in part to the US public at large, I'm going to assume that this "message" is highly suspect.  Maybe even an out-and-out fabrication.

  Hey, Osama, Dude, you got somethin' to say to me?  SAY IT IN MERKAN!

  by Skin Pale Eye Odd on Tue May 23, 2006 at 08:28:35 PM PDT