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October 28, 2004

Verbatim Transcript: That Censored ABCNews Half-Report

JENNINGS: US intelligence officials told us today that a videotape we've had in our possession for several days appears to have been produced by an organization connected to Al Qaeda. Our investigative unit has spent several days analyzing the tape. We also gave a copy to the FBI and CIA who have been checking it as well.

And ABC's Bryan Ross joins us tonight to tell us what the intelligence officials in the government have decided.

ROSS: Peter, we acquired the tape last Friday in Pakistan and now after days of anlaysis US officials say while they still cannot authenticate the voice on the tape, it has all the trademarks of an Al Qaeda production.

VIDEO OF TYPICAL HOMOSEXUAL-PANIC LUNATIC GRIPPING AK-47 LIKE IT'S HIS LOCKER-MATE'S SCHLONG, RANTING AND RAVING, BUT IN ENGLISH.

The tape features someone speaking English who claims to be an American, identified only as "Assam the American."

LUNATIC: No, my fellow countrymen, you are guilty. Guilty, guilty, guilty. You are as guilty as Bush and Cheney.

ROSS: His face is never fully visible and he makes no reference to where in the US he might have lived, if he ever did. The 75-minute long tape is marked with the logo and graphics of the same shadowy group called As-Sahab which as produced numerous audio and video tapes for Al Qaeda.

The threats are familiar but now in English, with a slight accent which law enforcement officals believe indicates that English is not his mother tongue.

LUNATIC: People of America, I remind you of the weighty words of our leaders Sheik Osama bin Ladin and "Dr." Ayman Al-Zawahiri, that what took place on September 11th was but the opening salvo of the global war on America, and that, Allah willing, the magnitude and ferocity of what is coming your way will make you forget all about September 11th.

ROSS: US officials believe there are several Americans working with Al Qaeda but that the voice of this man does not match any of them, making it impossible to fully authenticate the tape. The man on the pate appears to be well-educated, and well-versed in current and cultural events. He makes references to American television shows (VIDEO: BILL MAHER SHOUTING LIKE A JACKASS) and even the 9-11 commission (VIDEO: Tom Kean lowers the gavel).

He criticizes Muslims who have abandoned their faith and says Muslims are fighting a defensive war against the US and warns Americans the next wave of attacks could come at any moment.

LUNATIC WHO MISTOOK A PICNIC BLANKET FOR A HAT: After decades of American tyranny (prounounced TIE-ranny) and oppression, not it's your turn to die. Allah willing, the streets of America shall run red with blood matching drop for drop the blood of America's victims.

ROSS: The US is taking the tape very seriously. Copies are being provided to all thirteen current officials mentioned by name on the tape and the tape is being shown to captured Al Qaeda suspects in US custody to see, Peter, if they can Identify the man who calls himself Assam the American.

JENNINGS: Many thanks, Bryan.

Couple of points.

1. Without Al Qaeda's express endorsement of John Kerry, this tape simply isn't news at all. An imbecile speaking in florid but bad English about "streets running red with blood" is not news. They embargoed the only newsworthy part of the tape.

2. They seemed very careful to not let on that Al Qaeda has endorsed John Kerry-- that's a "political implication" they wanted to avoid -- and yet they had no problems whatsoever with leaving the impression that Al Qaeda is angry at Bush and Cheney personally, rather than America, the West, and modernity generally.

3. The cute distribution to only the 13 officials specifically named on the tape, while otherwise holding the video close, is a rather obvious attempt to keep the tape from being used in a campaign ad against Kerry. If there are only 13 persons who have the tape outside of ABCNews, they figure, any use of the tape for informing the public about Al Qaeda's presidential preference can be traced directly back to the 13 Republican officials, thus blunting the attack.

Hey, assholes-- it's a tape. Release it generally. Stop playing games.

"No Kerry Endorsement": A commenter says that FoxNews obtained the tape "independently of ABC" and did not mention an endorsement of Kerry (or, more accurately, a condemnation of Bush-Cheney and the promise of further violence should they be elected). The poster's implication seems to be, Therefore there is no endorsement.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. That is possible, of course. I haven't seen the tape, so I don't know. But the story reported by Drudge is that ABC released the tape to the government with the arguable Kerry endorsement missing or edited out. FoxNews certainly received its copy from a government source (who had, in turn, gotten it from ABC); it is hard to believe that within just a few days FoxNews contacted the man peddling the same video in Waziristan and purchased an original copy.

So the fact that FoxNews has an expurgated copy does not mean the true copy possessed thusfar only by ABCNews does not contain the reported -- and undenied -- endorsement of John Kerry for president.

posted by Ace at 07:55 PM

Comments

I just read a story on yahoo saying that ABC is reporting that they have evidence that shows the disputed explosives were removed after US forces took Iraq.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&e=1&u=/nm/20041028/ts_nm/iraq_explosives_abc_d

You know anything about it?

Posted by: atomic_amish on October 28, 2004 08:06 PM

Yeah, Ace, where were YOU after the 101st secured Al Qa Qaa?

But, back to the video...

Posted by: See Dub on October 28, 2004 08:12 PM

Yeah, right.

Atomic Amish, I don't know if you're a liberal trying to push a story on me or a conservative who naively thinks I have any kind of connections, but let me assure you, I know nothing about nothing at all.

I am the very last person to be let in the loop on anything. The chain goes MSM reporters, Drudge, Powerline/LGF/Redstate/Allah, then chat forums, then porno forums, then me.

Posted by: ace on October 28, 2004 08:32 PM

It is obvious from viewing the tape that the Kerry campaign is writing, directing and producing the terrorists’ commercials for them.

Posted by: on October 28, 2004 08:34 PM

they had no problems whatsoever with leaving the impression that Al Qaeda is angry at Bush and Cheney personally

Erm - isn't that good? I mean, they say 9/11 was the first of many attacks. Bush didn't do shit to them till after 9/11 - hell Michael Moore even says bush supported the taliban or some crazy shit. Then, for them to come out and say this is all Bushs' fault is rather imbecillic - either that, or they're taking speaking cues from JFK and are trying to have it both ways.

*shrugs* First it's MoveOn coordinating with the DNC, AQ is only like a half a step further...

Posted by: fat kid on October 28, 2004 08:38 PM

Fox News played long excerts from the tape on Special Report tonight.

Posted by: Clark on October 28, 2004 08:43 PM

Actually i knew you had just watched the ABC evening news and i thought you might have seen the report. I only watched the terrorist video spot. Man it kinda pisses me off that you think im either a Lib. or naive for asking. Maybe i should just stick to Fleshbot for my news...

Posted by: on October 28, 2004 08:57 PM

Posted by: atomic_amish on October 28, 2004 08:57 PM

Speaking of MoveOn, I think Atomic Amish and Cindy, who left that charming comment about the New Yorker's endorsement, are just leafleting for some Soros-funded 527 that reeks of patchouli and stridex.

They're probably just cut-and pasting these stories into active forums on the right-leaning blogs of someone's blogroll--or maybe using the NZ Bear rankings.

It's an amazingly stupid waste of time because the comments just flop out there and stink like non-sequiturds. They're from people we've never heard of and they're obvious political spam. Like we're just going to see that and go, Oh, wow, the new ABC video! That's it, sign me up for four years of Kerry-Edwards! Thank you, atomic_amish, for your hip inside knowledge of a story we saw on Drudge at noon.

You know anything about it?

Posted by: See-Dubya on October 28, 2004 08:58 PM

A_A, sorry, your comments came in while I was writing. I figured we'd never see you again.

Your post did have that troll-psyop feel to it though.

Posted by: See-Dub on October 28, 2004 09:02 PM

IM NOT A DEMOCRAT DAMMIT!!! I saw the story and wanted to see if it was bullshit! My God. I didnt see all of the evening news and i knew Ace did so who else should i ask? I dont write the story-i really think the story is just more MSM B.S. so get off my back.

Posted by: atomic_amish on October 28, 2004 09:06 PM

The same thing just happened to me. sorry i got so ticked. I overreact sometimes. you know how tempermental the Amish are. You were this close being shunned!

Posted by: atomic_amish on October 28, 2004 09:12 PM

Off Topic, but "germane" as JFK II would say:

Theresa calls Bush and others "Neanderthals". Sez Bush unable to get along on the global playground - something "children learn" on their playgrounds. Jeez, I almost hope Kerry does get elected so I can hear what comes out of that woman's ever-flapping mouth next.

Johnny Damon, the Red Sox outfielder, was unavailable for comment.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/3868919/detail.html

Posted by: Cedarford on October 28, 2004 09:24 PM

Cedarford, are you Dick Morris? Cause you just sound like Dick Morris sometimes. Not in a toe-sucking way, just in a Dick Morris way.

Posted by: See-dubya on October 28, 2004 09:29 PM

Hey Ace

I watched some of ABC News tonight. You failed to mention (probably because its redundant) the ponderous, sighing, cocksucker tone that Jennings blankets over everything that he reads.

I'm starting to hate Canadians again.

Posted by: sonofnixon on October 28, 2004 10:19 PM

I watched the vid over at the Fox News site. There was no mention of a Kerry endorsement and Fox says they obtained their video independently of ABC.

Posted by: Gus on October 28, 2004 11:02 PM

Atomic Amish,

Sorry! I cast it as an either/or proposition. If you're not a Democrat, but a conservative seeking the inside dope, then be warned, I have no inside dope.

Nobody talks to me. Nobody tips me. I have about as much pull as an unstrung bow.

Posted by: ace on October 28, 2004 11:38 PM

Jeezum crow, if a terrorist gave me a videotape and I told the cops, yeah, I'll maybe let you see half of it when I'm done with it, I would probably be looking at a search warrant pretty quick.

I see a court case here. I really think the FBI & CIA should have that whole tape, pronto. How is ABC serving its viewers by editing the evidence of a terrorist conspiracy? That's going to screw up the chain of custody in case they ever catch the fruitbat in the blanket alive and put him on trial. ABC should copy it and turn the originals over.

I care less about how much of it they decide to air--it is their property and their discretion on their show-- than their unwillingness to share evidence with the authorities, especially since it's apparently evidence of a catastrophic terrorist attack. And they do use those public airwaves at the government's discretion.

That said, I think this tape is a bluff. Not Al Qaeda's style. They would just blow the shit out of us if they could, and save the sermon video till later. Madrid, after all, came with no advance warning.

Posted by: See-Dubya on October 28, 2004 11:55 PM

I am pretty sure when Fox News aired the video earlier this evening, they played the part where the nutjob blasted Bush/Cheney and said not to elect them.

Posted by: Clark on October 29, 2004 01:11 AM

Oops. You're right. I watched the Fox video again and it says *ABC* got the tape in Pakistan, not Fox. Sorry for peddling bad information.

Posted by: Gus on October 29, 2004 01:27 AM

I missed something - who said it was edited before hand over?

Posted by: R on October 29, 2004 10:08 AM