Al Qaeda issues bogus propaganda video

AP/Houston Chronicle:

Al-Qaida posted today a video showing what it claimed to be an insurgent attack on a military position of U.S. and Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan.

The video appears to be an attempt by the terrorist network to disparage U.S. claims to be winning the war against the Taliban and allied militia in Afghanistan. It argues that the people of Afghanistan support the insurgents and provide physical assistance to their attacks on U.S.-Afghan forces.

The tape begins with the deputy leader of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahri, ridiculing President Bush's claim to have deprived al-Qaida of a safe haven in Afghanistan, calling it a "barefaced lie."

Al-Zawahri, who speaks in Arabic with an English translation in subtitles, seems to be referring to a Bush speech on Jan. 10 when the president said that U.S. forces "took away al-Qaida's safe haven in Afghanistan — and we will not allow them to re-establish it in Iraq."

With a narrator speaking in American-accented English, the tape then shows video film of what it claims is an attack on a military position in Arghandab, a district in Zabul province, 100 miles northeast of the southern city of Kandahar.

The narrator, who sounds like the American al-Qaida member Adam Gadahn, claims that the position is "liberated" by the insurgents. However, the film does not show the insurgents capturing the target — a compound of mud-plastered buildings in a valley — during the night-time battle. It only shows the insurgents walking through the compound in daylight.

When asked about the video, the district chief of Arghandab, Fazel Bari, told The Associated Press that the only recent clash in that area was last month when NATO-led troops and Afghan forces were ambushed by suspected Taliban militants on the road between Arghandab and Qalat, the provincial capital.

Bari said the NATO and Afghan troops suffered no casualties, but they detained one man after the battle, which ended with the Taliban retreating.

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If they really "liberated" this village why isn't Zawahiri standing in the village narrating his bs? What we have is some night footage from a failed attack by the Taliban. If the AP can go to the village and talk to district chief, it is clear that the Taliban have won nothing there. What we have here is another example of the futility of al Qaeda's war against the world and the futility of the Taliban's attempt to regain power.

The Jawa Report has the video.

Update: ABC News reports that analysis by the military confirms it is bogus.

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There are green leaves on the trees, no snow on the mountains and the fighters appear to be dressed rather lightly for the harsh Afghan winter where nighttime temperatures have been around 15 degrees this month.

Scenes of the bases, supposedly shot before the attack, show only one person walking up a hill at long range.

Scenes of the base, supposedly shot after the attack, show no evidence of damage, bodies, blood stains, spent shells or abandoned equipment other than one broken-down pickup truck.

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Poorly staged propaganda appears to be al Qaeda's latest attempt to manufacture a victory from their many defeats in Afghanistan.