Several diaries have prominently featured the "new" OBL video, including "If we're "kicking ass," why is Osama bin Laden on TV?" from congressional candidate Eric Massa, which is currently recommended.
The question which invariably gets asked, in the diary or in the comments, is whether OBL is still alive, and if he is, how did his beard suddenly turn black and his sallow, sunken cheeks suddenly appear full.
I'd like to take a moment to explain the wizardry, some high tech and some very low tech, which makes it possible to continue to release videos, even though there is no other credible evidence that Bin Laden has been alive since late 2001.
1. Voice morphing technology.
From a 1999 article by army intelligence veteran William Arkin, in the Washington Post:
"Gentlemen! We have called you together to inform you that we are going to overthrow the United States government." So begins a statement being delivered by Gen. Carl W. Steiner, former Commander-in-chief, U.S. Special Operations Command.
At least the voice sounds amazingly like him.
But it is not Steiner. It is the result of voice "morphing" technology developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico...
Think of how much better this technology might be now, eight years after it was developed. Is there a version that can run on a laptop? Very likely.
Digital morphing — voice, video, and photo — has come of age, available for use in psychological operations. PSYOPS, as the military calls it, seek to exploit human vulnerabilities in enemy governments, militaries and populations to pursue national and battlefield objectives.
To some, PSYOPS is a backwater military discipline of leaflet dropping and radio propaganda. To a growing group of information war technologists, it is the nexus of fantasy and reality. Being able to manufacture convincing audio or video, they say, might be the difference in a successful military operation or coup.
source
Enough said?
2. Watch The Video Closely
Don't watch the excerpts on CNN--watch the whole damn thing. Why?
Why? Because the image freezes several times during the tape while the audio continues. When I say freeze, I mean his mouth totally stops moving. The motion background and the subtitles continue to roll. The first freeze happens at 1:58 at the above source. The places where it freezes happen to be, coincidentally, where references to current events are made (big, big hat tip to George Maschke for being the first to point this out).
The fact that the matted video of Bin Laden freezes while the rest of the video continues apace means...well, what the hell what do you think it means? Compositing a small video inset of his nemesisness against a motion background and subtitles works very well as misdirection.
I looked at two different copies of the video on two different sites. The timing was slightly different due to the length of the clips but the content was exactly the same.
So, my question is, wtf is going on here? How is it that none of the "experts" or any of the reporters I've read who have supposedly looked at this tape have commented on the fact that for large portions of it, Bin Laden's lips aren't even moving. Is it because, like most of us, they haven't really watched it?
If this was a psyops operation--and when I use the word psyops I don't use it with any intent of casting blame on our military--it's been wildly successful. It's been incredibly successful because no one is actually watching the damn thing.
Watch the video yourself and make up your own mind.