In support of Skadi: bin Laden's tape doesn't pass the smell test

skadi's earlier post in which she expressed serious doubts about the authenticity of the recent bin laden tape released to al jazeera evidently has provoked others to incredulity as well... tanya's diary in daily kos spells it out...

I thought this thing didn't pass the smell test as soon as I heard it. Tonight on the News Hour, some of the inconsistencies from previous tapes were pointed out.

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 --
Why would Bin Laden need to have someone write this speach for him? He has been speaking to his followers since the 70's.
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.

JIM LEHRER: Do you read it the same?

PAUL PILLAR: -- which may reflect his physical situation somewhere along that frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan where possibly his immediate entourage -- his staff, if you will are Urdu speakers or Pashtu speakers, rather than Arabic speakers, or at least part of them are.

tanya goes on to quote the bow-tied, conservative wussy, tucker carlson who is even having a hard time swallowing it...

CARLSON: I`m amazed by what an astute student of that rhetoric Osama bin Laden has proved himself to be, I mean, every single line. There`s none of this sort of crackpot, "We will fulfill the prophecy of Allah" stuff that his previous communiques have been stuffed with.

This is not an Islamic tape. It`s a propaganda tape parroting the DNC. It`s bizarre. And I wonder what the Democrats think tonight............

CARLSON: I mean, really, you couldn`t make this up.

SCARBOROUGH: Yes.

CARLSON: Is this really from Osama? I guess it is. But if the CIA hadn`t verified it, if NBC News hadn`t verified it, I wouldn`t believe it.

SCARBOROUGH: Yes. I wouldn`t either, Tucker. And when I read it, I started laughing...

tanya concludes...

Listen to Rove today. This is all about 06' and I hope those more expert then me look into this tape. This is Rove at his best. When we know Bush lies at every turn and the Media covers for the administration why are we accepting this on face value.

Are we really just going to buy into this? Am I alone in thinking this is all Rovian Bullshit?

the answer to the rove question is in the previous post...

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