Have any of the cypherpunks run across useful analyses of the recently released bin Laden videotape? Mainstream media seems ready to question the accuracy of the translation - but I'm curious if the tape has any basis in reality at all. Purportedly, it was discovered by unidentified parties in an abandoned house in Afghanistan, then delivered to the CIA for processing before release by the Defense Department. How do we know it wasn't manufactured in order to mislead? Perhaps it was left in the abandoned house as a deliberate red herring - something like that would take some budget, which would seem to suggest it was produced by the intelligence arm of at least a moderate- sized nation. (Like Israel. Or the UK. Or the USA. Or ..?) Perhaps it wasn't found in an abandoned house at all, but was born somewhere in the DC suburbs. If someone intended to make a distracting fake, it seems like they might follow one of two paths - they could find (or help create, with some Hollywood magic) a bin Laden lookalike, and have him interact with some other Afghan/Arabic-looking folks. Or, they could go digital, and create a wholly artificial animation model of bin Laden. The first method is probably easier, but also probably easier to detect, if analysts are inclined to compare things like facial geometry or voice characteristics. (It's a shame the tape has such poor quality.) The second method would likely allow the creation of near-undetectable fakes, especially if they overlaid the animated creation on top of a physically constructed set with natural lighting, etc (though lighting and shadow might be good places to look for evidence of forgery, or lack thereof.) Maybe the tape is exactly what it purports to be - hard to say. But the media's not even asking the interesting questions.