WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden's surprise appearance in the last days of the presidential campaign is unwelcome news for whoever wins the election and for the U.S. counter-terrorism effort -- but not for the reasons one might expect, experts said Saturday.
Al Qaeda watchers had concluded long ago that the elusive Saudi exile had relinquished much of the day-to-day leadership of the terrorist organization he founded more than a decade ago. But the latest videotape has caused concern at the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies about Bin Laden's potential new role, as an elder statesman for aggrieved Muslims worldwide.
The 18-minute videotape, portions of which were aired Friday, contains no overt threats of an attack on U.S. interests, particularly the kind of strike on American soil that authorities have been warning about. In the footage, Bin Laden's first videotaped comments in three years, he lacks any of his usual trappings of warfare, including camouflage clothing, a dagger or a rifle, said a U.S. official familiar with the tape.
In fact, what has caught the attention of the U.S. intelligence community is the strangely conciliatory nature of Bin Laden's new message, said some government officials and outside experts.
These experts said Bin Laden appeared to be intensifying his campaign to "re-brand" himself in the minds of Muslims worldwide, and become known more as a political voice than a global terrorist.
"In some ways the tone of the message is as intriguing, and alarming, as the timing," said a U.S. official familiar with the tape, and the intelligence community's analysis of it. "The absence of an explicit threat does represent a different point of emphasis for this guy.
"Is he still an enemy? Absolutely. Is he still focused on terrorism? Yes," continued the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "But the tone of this is something we're looking at very closely to see where this guy is placing his emphasis."
The official said "a political spinoff [of Al Qaeda] is one of the greatest fears" of U.S. counter-terrorism authorities, with Bin Laden and his network following the path of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hezbollah and the Irish Republican Army. Over the years, those organizations evolved from violent militant groups into broader organizations with influential, widely accepted political wings.
