[lit-ideas] Classic Screaming Skull or Terror Pitch?
- From: Eric Yost <NYCEric@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 15:05:56 -0400
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3742-2004Oct27.html
Alleged Terror Tape Gives ABC Pause
News Division Delays Airing Video as FBI, CIA Evaluate
By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 28, 2004; Page C01
It has all the makings of an incendiary story: a chilling pre-election
videotape featuring a supposed member of al Qaeda, declaring in English
that "blood will run red in the streets of America."
The problem, say ABC News executives, is that they can't determine
whether the tape, obtained by a producer, involves a real threat -- or
even the identity of the figure on it, a man wearing an ammunition belt
and a headdress that obscures his face. The network enlisted the aid of
the FBI and CIA but still can't authenticate the 75-minute videotape.
"We're not quite there to broadcast something that would be quite
frightening," investigative reporter Brian Ross said yesterday. "I'd
love to have the exclusive, but first we'd like to get it right."
ABC was put in the awkward position of defending its insistence on fully
checking out the story after the Drudge Report posted a huge online
headline: "ABC News Holds Terror Warning Tape."
A network producer obtained the tape over the weekend from an
intermediary in Pakistan -- who charged a $500 transportation fee -- and
ABC's New York headquarters got a feed of the video Monday, network
executives said. They said they sent copies to the FBI and CIA, which
have been unable to identify the speaker -- who says he is an American
and is brandishing automatic weapons -- after comparing his voice to
those of known terrorists. ABC hired two linguists who concluded that
English was not the speaker's native tongue. For example, he cited the
country of Yemen as "the Yemen."
[snip]
Ross and other ABC staffers say they believe that a Bush administration
official leaked the story to Internet gossip Matt Drudge as a way of
pressuring the network into airing the tape, which would heighten
concerns about terrorism in the final week of the president's reelection
campaign. They note that whoever gave the information to Drudge had a
transcript of the tape.
One counterterrorism official said the tape shows the man "just ranting
and raving." Another federal official with knowledge of the matter said
that government agencies are pleased that ABC shared the tape and
relieved that the network is not airing it while the video is still
being evaluated. The CIA is examining the tape virtually day and night,
this person said.
The officials, who declined to be identified because the administration
is not commenting on the matter, say investigators do not believe the
man on the tape is Adam Gadahn, a California-born Muslim convert
identified by the FBI in May as an al Qaeda member wanted for questioning.
A U.S. intelligence official said it is possible the tape was produced
by an al Qaeda unit called Sahab Production Committee because the video
bears the committee's recognizable logo and has been edited and spliced.
The official called it "classic al Qaeda propaganda" and said the man on
the tape even brings up the issue of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.
The debate may not be over. The officials say a source with access to
the tape, apparently impatient with ABC, has offered it to another
broadcast news organization, which has called the government for guidance.
Drudge said yesterday that a political motivation behind the leak was
"possible," but put the onus on ABC. "They haven't authenticated
previous al Qaeda tapes before airing them," he said. "Why are they
waiting to authenticate this? It's election week."
But Isham noted that previous videotapes featured Osama bin Laden or
other al Qaeda leaders who could be verified by sight.
"It's either a well-done hoax or a tremendous news story," Ross said.
"We're not going to get stampeded."
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