"Khan said the interview was filmed in November but had not been broadcast
by al-Jazeera. "

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=2&u=/nm/20020519/ts_nm/britain_binladen_dc_8

Question Raised About Latest Bin Laden Video 
Sun May 19,11:52 AM ET 
By Dominic Evans 

LONDON (Reuters) - A British-based Islamic news agency released video
footage of Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) Sunday
which it said was filmed just two months ago. 

But the independent Arab satellite news network al-Jazeera said it had
seen the tape three or four months ago and believed it was recorded in
October. 

The 100-second clip showed bin Laden seated outside a stone building in a
camouflage smock as he spoke to unseen supporters, extolling the merits of
martyrdom. 

If the film were just two months old it would be the first proof that bin
Laden survived the U.S. onslaught on his militant al Qaeda network and
Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s former Taliban rulers after the Sept. 11
suicide attacks in the United States. 

Neither bin Laden's comments nor the setting of the film -- under a tree
against a backdrop of hills -- appeared to shed light on when it was
filmed. 

The Ansaar news agency said Pakistani intelligence officers who supplied
the video said it was shot in March. "We can't verify or confirm it," said
Ansaar journalist Imran Khan. "But bin Laden looks gaunt, thinner and
paler." He said he believed it was filmed in the southern Afghan border
town of Spin Boldak. 

He said the footage was part of a 40-minute film which the agency obtained
in Pakistan four weeks ago. It was brought to Britain on an encrypted
CD-ROM which was only decoded and transcribed last week, Khan said. 

"Concerning the situation that we are in, we must praise Allah that he has
allowed us to follow the path of (men who are among) the best of
creation," bin Laden said. 

"We ask Allah for victory, and we ask Allah to grant us martyrdom," added
Washington's chief suspect for the September 11 suicide plane attacks in
the United States. 

BIN LADEN MYSTERY 

Ibrahim Helal, editor in chief of the Qatar-based al Jazeera, said his
network had received the same tape three or four months ago. "We did not
broadcast it because... he is not saying anything new," he told Reuters. 

"My impression was that bin Laden was speaking in October to encourage his
followers to fight the Americans even before the start of the ground
operations." 

Bin Laden's fate remains unclear since the U.S. retaliatory strikes on his
Afghan strongholds. Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web
sites) said last week he had no idea where he was. "But I've got no doubt
in the end we will secure him," Blair added. 

In the last video of the fugitive (news - Y! TV), which emerged last
month, bin Laden warned that the United States would not feel safe until
Palestinians enjoyed peace and vowed Muslims would fight on despite their
relative military weakness. 

That undated video sounded as if it could have been made ahead of the
attacks on New York and Washington -- attacks which bin Laden has never
clearly claimed responsibility for. 

A separate clip in the 40-minute film released Sunday featured an
interview with bin Laden carried out by a reporter from the Arab satellite
news network al-Jazeera, in which bin Laden warned that any country which
sided with Israel or the United States would be an al Qaeda target. 

Referring to comments by one of his aides specifically targeting Britain
and the United States, bin Laden said: "This war is not confined to them." 

Khan said the interview was filmed in November but had not been broadcast
by al-Jazeera.