Truemors
A new videotape was released today by al Qaeda's Abu Yahya al Libbi. The video is devoted, in part, to eulogizing slain mujahideen, particularly Mullah Dadullah, a senior Taliban military commander killed in May. The video is in Arabic and lacks the English subtitles of al Libbi's last release. A full translation is not yet available.
Insects can be seen buzzing around al Libbi's face at various points during the video -- he ignores them at first but eventually loses patience and attempts to shoo them away, albeit maintaining a perfect poker face in the process.
The light-colored insects may suggest an outdoor or tented filming location. If al Libbi is really unlucky, they could be an unusual variety of bug specific to a certain location. Al Qaeda might end up regretting its commitment to DVD-quality video standards if some enterprising intel analyst deduces al Libbi's location by improbably identifying the winged pests.
Bug issues aside, the video continues a recent trend of very strong production values in
al Qaeda releases, including a computer-generated backdrop.
Several
recent releases have featured highly realistic backdrops -- which are
almost indistinguishable from a real space. In this case, the backdrop
is more cartoonlike and visibly unreal to even a casual viewer.
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