...the weight of opinion now swinging behind the possibility that Bin Laden is dead - and the accumulating evidence that supports it - makes the notion, at the very least, worthy of examination.The theory first received an airing in the American Spectator magazine earlier this year when former U.S. foreign intelligence officer and senior editor Angelo M. Codevilla, a professor of international relations at Boston University, stated bluntly: 'All the evidence suggests Elvis Presley is more alive today than Osama Bin Laden.'..
There are other doubters, too. Professor Bruce Lawrence, head of Duke University's religious studies' department and the foremost Bin Laden expert, argues that the increasingly secular language in the video and audio tapes of Osama (his earliest ones are littered with references to God and the Prophet Mohammed) are inconsistent with his strict Islamic religion, Wahhabism.
He notes that, on one video, Bin Laden wears golden rings on his fingers, an adornment banned among Wahhabi followers... [screencap at left]
This week, still more questions have been raised with the publication in America and Britain of a book called Osama Bin Laden: Dead or Alive?
Written by political analyst and philosopher Professor David Ray Griffin, former emeritus professor at California's Claremont School of Theology, it is provoking shock waves - for it goes into far more detail about his supposed death and suggests there has been a cover-up by the West.
The book claims that Bin Laden died of kidney failure, or a linked complaint, on December 13, 2001, while living in Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains close to the border with Waziristan...
The author insists that the many Bin Laden tapes made since that date have been concocted by the West to make the world believe Bin Laden is alive. The purpose? To stoke up waning support for the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.
More at the Daily Mail link.
This is not a new notion, and it's first mention wasn't earlier this year. I've heard the idea that he was since at least 2002 now, and I've gotta say, the evidence is hard to deny.
ReplyDeleteIf you look hard enough I'm sure you can find someone who's done a facial analysis of the new "Bin Laden." I've seen it before.
I totally agree with you that the concept is not new; it has been discussed ever since the 9/11 attacks. I think the Benazir Bhutto statement during her interview by David Frost about the "murder of Osama bin Laden" was a slip of the tongue; I blogged that but deleted it later.
ReplyDeleteI might buy the reasoning behind the conspiracy theory, but it doesn't hold water to me. See, Bin Laden tapes do not make me more rabid in support of the war on terror. In fact, the further we've moved from 2001, the less press Bin Laden tapes have received. So I don't know why they would cover up his death and keep making tapes when they hardly garner any attention. A cover up would be pointless.
ReplyDeleteLoradora, can you summarize in 2-3 sentences what the U.S. considers to be its reason for conducting a war in Afghanistan without using the words "bin Laden" or "terrorism"?
ReplyDeleteBin Laden is the face of terrorism. Without his existence the U.S. is fighting a concept, not an enemy.
..and if Bin Laden was indeed dead, and the west was creating these tape recordings, wouldn't Bin Ladens followers protest to the world they were fakes? Especially if the exposing of the fraud would mean less support for a continued war against them.
ReplyDeleteTo Mike - would bin Laden's followers know he's dead? or was the fact hidden from them too. If they know he's dead would they publicize it and risk having others drop out of the movement because the leader was gone, leaving them alone? Or would they go along with the fraud - like in the movie El Cid.
ReplyDeleteAnd they don't want the war against them to end. They want it to go on.
If that's not bin laden in the video still above then they must have found his twin brother.
ReplyDeleteWhy do people always look for the worst possible reason behind anything and then believe it with all their hearts (making both Obama and Bush war mongering cousins in the process)?
ReplyDeleteIt's in our interest for Bin Laden to be alive because it makes it impossible for anyone else to claim the mantle of leadership of al queda if Bin Laden is still alive. If we knew he was dead and publicized it, it would get Americans killed. Bush is a hero if he knew Bin Laden was dead and didn't take credit for it.