bin Laden tape reliability

[John Young]

Also, it is peculiar that almost nobody in the tape
looked at the camera, which is hard to do unless
trained to do so like actors are, or such looks were 
removed by editing.

It is also possible that the tape was made surreptitiously,
though the differing camera angles would have to be
done by separate cameras.

Bin Laden's bulk appears to change in different shots.
>From the side he looks heavier than usual, but from the
front about the same stringbean. The side shot might
have been due to distortion -- it was closer in than
the frontal.

If the tape is legitmate, I'd say it probably was made
to boost the reputation of the Saudi sheik sitting to
bin Laden's left. He is the second-most person featured.
Could be bin Laden made an appearance and agreed
to the tape for promotion of the Sheik's agenda. Perhaps
bin Laden was on a tour himself of a batch of sheiks
arranged in adjoining rooms, anointing each, maybe
even doing a fund-raiser like our photo-addicted pols.

Certainly UBL was behaving identically to politicians
out working the crowd, bragging, kidding, kissing,
pretending to love the audience, acting as though
all of it is not for video outreach. True, politicians
send in cut-outs and UBL could have sent his
double of which he must have several.