Sunday, January 24, 2010

UBL audio to al-Jazeera claims the underwear bombing attempt

The version I have is slightly over a minute long but seems to contain UBL's whole statement. It is an audio only, of poor quality; it might have been transmitted by telephone to al-Jazeera in Islamabad or elsewhere, but it was probably not UBL speaking live, but rather a recording played over the phone. The audio is undated. Bin Ladin crimes Obama for the predicament of the Gazans, but does not mention Hamas, whose members kill all their rivals including the al-Qa'ida wannabes.

Update: Al-Jazeera has put the recording on YouTube.

Update, 24 January: UBL doesn't exactly claim the plot, but he endorses it and he promises more of the same if he doesn't get his own way re the Gaza Strip. It's odd that he would focus on Gaza at this time, and I suspect that his motive for doing so is to ingratiate himself with one of Hamas's few remaining Arabian backers, namely Abdul-Majid al-Zindani in Yemen.