The Tale Of Two Tapes: Tape # 1

Osama bin Laden’s prerecorded tape to not be released over fears of making al Queda leader a martyr
Tuesday, 03 May 2011 11:22

By Bob Holt
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

In January 2010 Osama bin Laden released his last tape, which claimed responsibility for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's Christmas Day 2009 underwear bombing attempt on a Michigan-bound plane.

Just a day after the U.S. Navy SEALs killed Bin Laden, the media was trying to decide whether airing a new tape recorded shortly before his death would turn the al Queda leader into a martyr.

The New York Daily News reported that Wolf Blitzer of CNN said viewers were pleading with CNN through Twitter not to air Bin Laden's message. According to multichannel.com, Blitzer’s co-worker at CNN Anderson Cooper had already made his decision. Cooper said that no show he was on or was associated with would air that tape, and said Bin Laden was a mass murderer who should never be heard from again.

An Associated Press story on philly.com reported a U.S. official saying that the new tape is already going through al Queda’s media networks.

The official said that the timing of the release was coincidental and that he didn’t know U.S. forces were closing in on him.

White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said during television appearances: "This needs to be done thoughtfully," in considering possible reactions to photos of Bin Laden's corpse and video of his burial at sea., according to csmonitor.com. Brennan said that airing the tape might satisfy those who are still doubting that bin Laden was killed.

Officials made a DNA match from his remains that proved it was Bin Laden with 99.9 percent certainty. The Bin Laden tape expected to be released may give credence to those who believe he is still alive.