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CIA: Voice on Tape Probably bin Laden's
Aired September 12, 2003 - 12:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The CIA now thinks it's more likely than not that a voice on a newly-surfaced videotape of Osama bin Laden is, in fact, bin Laden's.
Our national security correspondent, David Ensor, is tracking all of these developments for us, as he always does -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NAT'L. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as you say, U.S. intelligence officials are expressing confidence now that the voice on the latest tape broadcast on an Arab-language station is indeed Osama bin Laden.
At the Central Intelligence Agency, where a technical analysis of the tape is continuing, an official told us that the voice is probably, but not definitely, bin Laden. The official noted that on the tape, bin Laden makes no reference to events of the past two years. And he said, therefore, there is no way to know when the voice recording was made.
CIA officials had already confirmed with high confidence that the second voice on the tape is take is that of Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2 leaders. Al-Zawahiri's voice was apparently recorded in recent months, since he refers to more recent events.
As for the videotape of bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, officials cannot say when it was filmed. There are some officials who are suggesting it may date back to spring of 2002 or even earlier, although Al-Jazeera, when they first put it on the air, said they thought it was probably filmed this past spring -- Wolf.
BLITZER: David, it was my impression when I saw that videotape the close-up shot of Osama bin Laden, he actually looked better in this picture than he did in the other highly-publicized videotape right afterwards, about a year and a half or so ago that we saw. Is that what the analysts that you're talking to are suggesting? That he looks better in this one than he did in that other one that came out shortly after 9/11?
ENSOR: You know, they are not willing to speculate about the difference between different videos. It certainly does seem to the naked eye, to mine and yours, that he looked a little better in that previous tape. So, that may be part of what's behind their thinking.
They are just saying they have reason to suspect, and there may be other reasons we don't know about, that this latest tape could have been recorded before some of the others that have already been released -- Wolf. BLITZER: Yes, that would be my impression. If you look at that other picture, his beard looks grayer than it does in this more recently released videotape.
ENSOR: Right.
BLITZER: So, maybe they are right. We'll have to continue to get some more analysis obviously, and we'll rely on you to share that with our viewers. David Ensor, thanks very much for that information.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired September 12, 2003 - 12:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The CIA now thinks it's more likely than not that a voice on a newly-surfaced videotape of Osama bin Laden is, in fact, bin Laden's.
Our national security correspondent, David Ensor, is tracking all of these developments for us, as he always does -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NAT'L. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as you say, U.S. intelligence officials are expressing confidence now that the voice on the latest tape broadcast on an Arab-language station is indeed Osama bin Laden.
At the Central Intelligence Agency, where a technical analysis of the tape is continuing, an official told us that the voice is probably, but not definitely, bin Laden. The official noted that on the tape, bin Laden makes no reference to events of the past two years. And he said, therefore, there is no way to know when the voice recording was made.
CIA officials had already confirmed with high confidence that the second voice on the tape is take is that of Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2 leaders. Al-Zawahiri's voice was apparently recorded in recent months, since he refers to more recent events.
As for the videotape of bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, officials cannot say when it was filmed. There are some officials who are suggesting it may date back to spring of 2002 or even earlier, although Al-Jazeera, when they first put it on the air, said they thought it was probably filmed this past spring -- Wolf.
BLITZER: David, it was my impression when I saw that videotape the close-up shot of Osama bin Laden, he actually looked better in this picture than he did in the other highly-publicized videotape right afterwards, about a year and a half or so ago that we saw. Is that what the analysts that you're talking to are suggesting? That he looks better in this one than he did in that other one that came out shortly after 9/11?
ENSOR: You know, they are not willing to speculate about the difference between different videos. It certainly does seem to the naked eye, to mine and yours, that he looked a little better in that previous tape. So, that may be part of what's behind their thinking.
They are just saying they have reason to suspect, and there may be other reasons we don't know about, that this latest tape could have been recorded before some of the others that have already been released -- Wolf. BLITZER: Yes, that would be my impression. If you look at that other picture, his beard looks grayer than it does in this more recently released videotape.
ENSOR: Right.
BLITZER: So, maybe they are right. We'll have to continue to get some more analysis obviously, and we'll rely on you to share that with our viewers. David Ensor, thanks very much for that information.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
