The Rest of the Story

Yesterday, a new video from Osama bin Laden was released. Well, it wasn't exactly a new video so much as the release of a segment that never aired from an old video. Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit was able to make the match.

However, that's not the most intriguing news relating to al Qaeda from yesterday. It's the possibility that Zawahiri was behind the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) siege.

Al Qaeda's leadership secretly directed the Islamic militants whose armed revolt at the Red Mosque in Islamabad ended last week with more than 100 deaths after it was stormed by the Pakistan army.

According to senior intelligence officials, the troops who finally took control discovered letters from Osama Bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. They were written to Abdul Rashid Ghazi and Abdul Aziz, the brothers who ran the mosque and adjacent madrasah.

Government sources said up to 18 foreign fighters — including Uzbeks, Egyptians and several Afghans — had arrived weeks before the final shootout and set up firing ranges to teach students, including children, how to handle weapons.

Al-Qaeda has wanted to open a Pakistan front in its global jihad since President Pervez Musharraf sided with America after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Al Qaeda has been looking to expand the front against the West, and opening a front in Pakistan would greatly aid their efforts as their former sanctuary in Afghanistan is a killing field for Taliban and al Qaeda. Iraq is similarly a killing zone for jihadis. Right now, we've got circumstantial evidence that al Qaeda was precipitating the siege in the hopes of getting Islamists in Pakistan to rise up against Musharraf. There are also reports that at least five foreign jihadis were among the dead recovered inside the mosque.

Jim also suggests that a warning might have been embedded in one of the latest Zawahiri messages, based on the repeated use of a phrase that essentially acts as a warning:

"Have I not conveyed? Oh God be my witness.
Have I not conveyed? Oh God be my witness.
Have I not conveyed? Oh God be my witness."

The warning is repeated 3 times. Under Islamic Law you are obliged to warn your enemies three times before you carry out an attack on them.
Notice that Osama repeats his martyr line 3 times in the video released today as well.

It is entirely possible that this was a message from beyond for Osama, given that we're now into recycled snippets or outtakes of Osama videos previously released.

Osama could have prepared videos for another mass casualty attack or two around the world, which could be released if those attacks were successful, giving the appearance that he was still around and directing things. Other segments could have been taped to be used as go-codes or to rally the troops. Without a body, there's simply no way to know, but the fact that he hasn't released a new video is suggestive that he's well and truly dead, but the videos could still be used to unleash carnage, which is why the videos need to be evaluated and dissected for hidden messages and content.

UPDATE:
The NY Times reports there simply isn't a whole lot of support for the jihadis inside Pakistan, though I'm concerned that it wouldn't take much to assassinate Musharraf or cause a major conflict inside Pakistan given that Warizistan is still largely in Islamist hands and al Qaeda has been able to regroup there.

UPDATE:
Well, this is the second significant suicide bombing in two days in Pakistan. 31 people were killed in separate attacks, including one that targeted a bus.