Note: The video has been released. Read our report and see the videos here.

As-Sahab 9/11 Documentary on the Way
By Nick Grace
September 7, 2006

A new video is slated to be released by al Qaeda's propaganda wing, as-Sahab media. The animated gif promotional banner for the video that has been posted on the radical Ekhlaas Forum and is awaiting a link. You will note that both Ayman al-Zawahiri and Adam Gadahn are advertised as appearing in this video. It appears to promote the 90-minute video that was leaked to al-Jazeera on Thursday, of which only 3 minutes were broadcast.

http://www.globalcrisiswatch.com/aq/060907_aljazeera.wmv

Segments of the video included in al-Jazeera's package include pre-9/11 footage of Usama bin Laden, Mohammed Atef, combat training exercises in Afghanistan and the martyr videos of 9/11 hijackers Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri. The video is likely to be a documentary on the 9/11 attacks.

Here are my observations on the video that deserve attention:

Keeping in line with recent as-Sahab products, this new video is extremely well produced and subtitled in English - a trend that began with the July 7 documentary on the 2005 London attacks.

Practically all of as-Sahab's products this year have relied upon the nebulous distribution network of supporters on radical message boards. It is unusual that this new video has been leaked or pre-released to al-Jazeera.

The martyr videos of al-Ghamdi and al-Shehri have been heavily modified with Adobe AfterEffects. The background design that was used in the July 27 Zawahiri video is used again but two of the background "image panels" have been replaced.

July 27 al-Zawahiri video
Image panels (L-R): Mohammed Atef, airbrushed WTC graphic, Mohammed Atta

al-Shehri martyr video
Image panels (L-R): Airbrushed WTC graphic, Pentagon reconstruction, burning WTC building

al-Ghamdi martyr video
Image panels (L-R): Airbrushed WTC graphic, Pentagon reconstruction, WTC collapse graphic

First, note the pixelzation evident on the top of Zawahiri's turban and the discoloration of his left hand as he swats at a fly in the July 27 screenshot. As I have previously argued, he was green-screened onto a "studio" graphic that was most likely designed in Adobe Photoshop. The studio graphic has been used in the al-Shehri and al-Ghamdi martyr videos in the segments of the new as-Sahab package aired on al-Jazeera. Interestingly, the burning WTC graphic that appears in the center panel of the July 27 Zawahiri video, which is heavily airbrushed and practically repainted, is used for the far left panel of both martyr videos. As-Sahab's designer has placed a graphic of the Pentagon with a construction crane in the center panel. And oddly uses two different graphics for the right-hand panel. Also note the graphic of what appears to be a static 3-D image of an American Airlines jet that changes position in the martyr videos.

Will this new video contain surreptitious messages to sleeper cells? This cannot be known, of course, but we should recall that as-Sahab's July 7 documentary contained liquid bombmaking training footage at a time when, as we now know in retrospect, a large cell in London whose members had trained in Pakistan were planning to destroy muliple aircraft over the Atlantic using liquid bombs. The image panels that flank Zawahiri in the July 27 video are also an interesting coincidence considering that they focused entirely on the 9/11 hijacking. I have been told from an extremely reliable source that the transatlantic hijackings were originally planned for September 11 but suddenly pushed to August 16. The plot was ultimately foiled on August 10.

Based on recent video releases by as-Sahab, this new video, the 9/11 documentary, is likely to be released in its entirety on the Internet on Friday. Expect new speeches by Zawahiri and Gadahn.

The questions on my mind:

* Why is as-Sahab using heavily airbrushed WTC graphics in the image panels when the original graphics are already dramatic?

* Is there a significance of the WTC graphic that appears in both the July 27 video and the 9/11 documentary?

* Why does as-Sahab feature a graphic of the Pentagon under reconstruction when images of its destruction are easily accessible?

* Will this video be as-Sahab's feature presentation between now and September 11 or is a significant message from UBL, who we have not heard from since July 1, being prepared for release?