Videos of Osama bin Laden

There have been several videos released by, or claiming to be produced by, Osama bin Laden. Many of the Osama bin Laden tapes have been released directly (by mail or messenger) to Arabic language satellite television networks such as Al Jazeera.

October 7, 2001
Just after US and NATO forces launched strikes in Afgahnistan, Osama bin Laden released a video tape stating "America has been hit by Allah at its most vulnerable point, destroying, thank God, its most prestigious buildings", referencing the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US. Bin Laden did not claim responsibility for the attacks in the recording.

November 3, 2001
Bin Laden released another video tape. Where he is excoriating the West, the UN and Israel, and explaining all of the unfolding events as fundamentally a religious war against Islam instigated by the "Crusader" West.

December 13, 2001
On December 9, 2001 U.S. military forces in Jalalabad found a video tape of bin Laden. On December 13, 2001, the United States State Department released a video tape apparently showing Osama bin Laden speaking with Khaled al-Harbi and other associates, somewhere in Afghanistan, before the U.S. invasion had driven the Taliban regime from Kandahar. The State Department stated that the tape was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan during a raid on a house in Jalalabad. The tape was aired with an accompanying English translation. In this translation, Osama bin Laden displays knowledge of the timing of the actual attack a few days in advance; the translation attributes the following lines to bin Laden:
 * "we calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy, who would be killed based on the position of the tower. We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors. I was the most optimistic of them all...We had notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place that day. We had finished our work that day and had the radio on...Muhammad (Atta) from the Egyptian family (meaning the Al Qaida Egyptian group), was in charge of the group...The brothers, who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation and we asked each of them to go to America but they didn't know anything about the operation, not even one letter. But they were trained and we did not reveal the operation to them until they are there and just before they boarded the planes."

On December 20, 2001, German TV channel "Das Erste" broadcast an analysis of the White House's translation of the videotape. On the program "Monitor", two independent translators and an expert on oriental studies found the White House's translation to be both inaccurate and manipulative stating "At the most important places where it is held to prove the guilt of bin Laden, it is not identical with the Arabic" and that the words used that indicate foreknowledge can not be heard at all in the original. Prof. Gernot Rotter, professor of Islamic and Arabic Studies at the Asia-Africa Institute at the University of Hamburg said "The American translators who listened to the tapes and transcribed them apparently wrote a lot of things in that they wanted to hear but that cannot be heard on the tape no matter how many times you listen to it."

David Ray Griffin, a former theology professor and member of the 9/11 Truth Movement, says that the Bin Laden figure in the video looks very different to previous footage - fatter, with shorter fingers, and that he is even writing with the wrong hand. Andy Laws, a former military imaging analyst for the Royal Air Force, says the fact that Bin Laden appears fatter in the 2001 tape is down to the editing process, when subtitles were added and the image was squashed. Some members of Scholars for 9/11 Truth believe that the man in this videotape is not Osama bin Laden at all, citing differences in weight and facial features, along with his wearing of a gold ring, which is forbidden by Muslim law, and using his right hand, although he is left-handed. .

The transcript and video is located at http://youtube.com/watch?v=x0FVeqCX6z8

December 27, 2001
Bin Laden released another video tape stating "Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, which kills our people". In the recording, bin Laden describes attacks by the United States against Islamic peoples. He describes his message as a review of events following 9/11, and in this statement he neither admits nor denies responsibility for the 9/11 attacks.

November 12, 2002
Qatar Al Jazeera broadcast the unauthenticated bin Laden Recording. US law enforcement officials report bin Laden is probably the speaker on the tape. Most US experts who have heard or processed the tape have usually supported that conclusion, but the result of Idiap Research Institute shows that "there is serious room for doubt" that the speaker is bin Laden.

February 12, 2003
On February 12, 2003, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told a Senate panel that he had reviewed a transcript of a message from bin Laden stating he was in “partnership with Iraq" which was to be broadcast on al Jazeera. Al Jazeera initially denied having the tape, but subsequently located it.

September 10, 2003
Al Jazeera broadcast footage of Bin laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri hiking in the mountains together.

October 29, 2004
Shortly before the U.S. presidential election on 29 October 2004, Arab television network Al Jazeera broadcast an 18 minute video tape of Osama bin Laden, addressed to citizens of the United States. According to the English translation distributed by the BBC and other media outlets, he tells viewers he personally directed the 19 hijackers, and describes his motivation:

"I will explain to you the reasons behind these events, and I will tell you the truth about the moments when this decision was taken, so that you can reflect on it. God knows that the plan of striking the towers had not occurred to us, but the idea came to me when things went just too far with the American-Israeli alliance's oppression and atrocities against our people in Palestine and Lebanon."

Bin Laden claimed he was inspired to destroy the World Trade Center after watching the destruction of towers in Lebanon by Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War.

January 19, 2006
On 19 January 2006, Al Jazeera broadcast an audiotape of Osama bin Laden again addressing citizens of the United States.

April 23, 2006
On 23 April 2006, Al Jazeera broadcast parts of an audiotape. On this tape bin Laden accuses the Western world of waging a Zionist crusade against Islam. He comments on Hamas, Darfur and the situation in Iraq.

May 23rd, 2006
On May 23, 2006 Al Jazeera broadcast a 5 minute audiotape from bin Laden where he claims he alone assigned the hijackers to perform the September 11, 2001 attacks. Bin Laden comments on the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and the imprisoned journalists Sami al-Hajj and Tayssir Alouni, denying any of them (apart from a few Guantanamo Bay prisoners) were connected with Al-Qaeda.

Bin Laden tells viewers Zacarias Moussaoui "had no connection at all with Sept. 11. I am the one in charge of the 19 brothers and I never assigned brother Zacarias to be with them in that mission. I am certain of what I say because I was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers ... with the raids.".

June 30, 2006
On June 30, 2006, an Islamist website posted a recording in which bin Laden praised Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a "lion of Jihad". The nineteen-minute video shows a still picture of bin Laden next to video celebrating al-Zarqawi. US officials said the tape was authentic.

September 7, 2006
On September 7, 2006 a videotape of previously unaired footage of Osama bin Laden and two of the hijackers was broadcast on Al-Jazeera TV. The videotape was believed to have been shot in Afghanistan some weeks before the attack and includes scenes of men training with weapons and box cutters, and hand to hand combat. The video was released four days prior to the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael P. Jackson, suggested at the time the video might be a signal to Al-Qaeda supporters in the United States to initiate a terrorist attack on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, but no such attack came to pass.

July 14, 2007
On July 14, 2007, a few days after the Lal Masjid siege, by the Pakistani government, and after a video released by Ayman al-Zawarihhi, bin Laden released a tape. He was shown with a fatigued expression. He appeared in a video clip, less than a minute long, on a militant website. BBC News reports that it was "undated and correspondents say it may be re-run footage. Its authenticity also cannot be independently verified."

September 7, 2007
On September 7, 2007 an entirely new videotape of Osama bin Laden was aired. This was his first new appearance in almost three years. In the tape he mentions no acts of terrorism or war against the United States, but criticizes large corporations, Congressional Democrats, the War on Terror, and the PMs of Great Britain. He strongly urges individuals to convert to Islam. In the movie, bin Laden also mentions the new President of France and Global Warming.

During the video, bin Laden's image moves for only a total of 3 1/2 minutes in two segments, staying frozen the rest of the time while his remarks continue. From bin Laden's mention of current events it appeared to indicate the video is recently made and thus also proving bin Laden is still alive, however the mentions of current events occur only in the frozen sections of the tape.

The title of this message is "The Solution," its full transcript and video is located at

September 11, 2007
On September 11, 2007, a second video appeared purportedly featuring a eulogy by Osama bin Laden to 9/11 hijacker Waleed al-Shehri. In the video, a voice identified as bin Laden's delivers the 14-minute introduction. The voice is heard over a still picture of bin Laden, dressed and groomed as he appears in the September 7, 2007 video. The 33-minute balance of the recording is a video will read by al-Shehri.

September 20, 2007
On September 20, 2007, an audio tape appeared with bin Laden's voice over previously released footage of him. In the audio tape bin Laden called on Pakistanis to overthrow President Pervez Musharraf, promising what he called retaliation for the storming of the Red Mosque in the capital, Islamabad, in July.

October 22, 2007
'Message to the People of Iraq' On October 22, 2007, an audio tape appeared purportedly by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has urged insurgent groups in Iraq to unify their ranks.

November 29, 2007
On November 29, 2007, an audio tape appeared purportedly by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has urged European countries to end their military involvement in Afghanistan.

December 29, 2007
In an audiotape Osama bin Laden warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting al-Qaeda and vowed to expand the group's Jihad to Israel, threatening "blood for blood, destruction for destruction."

The title of this message is "The Way To Frustrate The Conspiracies." Its transcript is located at

March 19, 2008
On March 19, 2008, an audio tape appeared purportedly by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden "threatens" the EU over the re-printing of a cartoon offensive to Muslims.

The title of this message is "May our Mothers be bereaved of us if we fail to help our Prophet." Its full transcript and tape is located at

March 20, 2008
On March 20, 2008, a second audio tape appeared purportedly by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden urging Palestinian militants to join the insurgency in Iraq.

May 16, 2008
On May 16, 2008, an audio tape appeared purportedly by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden issued to the Western People: "Reasons of the struggle on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the occupying state of Israel"    The message is 22 minutes, 41 seconds long. The message addresses the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel.

May 18, 2008
On May 18, 2008, a second audio tape appeared purportedly by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden issued 'A very strong statement to the Islamic nation and Muslims'. The second in three days, once again is an audio message, with no new imagery of bin Laden seen. A video version of the message was released showing an older still image of bin Laden while an audio message plays in the background.

January 14, 2009
On January 14, 2009, a new audio recording purportedly by bin Laden posted on Islamist websites called for a new jihad over the Israeli offensive in Gaza and said the global financial crisis has exposed the waning influence of the United States in world affairs and that it will in turn weaken its ally Israel. The recording was accompanied by a still photo of Bin Laden superimposed over the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

June 3, 2009
According to a recording aired by Al Jazeera on June 3, Bin Laden made a statement against President Barack Obama.

September 13, 2009
On September, 13 2009 an audio recording purportedly by Osama Bin Laden was released on an Islamist website.

For a transcript, see Bin Laden Statement (13 September 2009).

September 25, 2009
On 25 September, a forum participant posted to a jihadist website links to download an audio statement from al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Ladin. The statement, entitled "A Message From Shaykh Osama Bin Ladin to the People of Europe," is 4 minutes, 47 seconds in length, and in Arabic with German and English subtitles available. The video shows a still photograph of Bin Ladin.

For a transcript, see Bin Laden Statement (25 September 2009)

January 24, 2010
New audio tape released to al-jazeera news features a voice claiming to be Osama bin Laden taking credit for the attempted bombing by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The authenticity of the tape has not yet been verified.

January 29, 2010
A tape allegedly (remains unverified) from bin Laden was released by Al Jazeera, in which the leader of al-Qaeda excoriated the U.S. for its reluctance to address climate change. Bin Laden called for a worldwide boycott of American goods and the United States dollar in order to have a huge impact on the American economy.

March 25, 2010
Another new audio tape allegedly from bin Laden was released by Al Jazeera. In this tape, the leader of al-Qaeda threatened that the execution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would result in al-Qaeda indefinitely murdering Americans in the event of their "falling into our hands".