January 8, 2000 or August 1, 2000: Bin Laden Speech Is Videotaped and Later Used by US Intelligence

Bin Laden is videotaped speaking to about 100 of his followers in Afghanistan. The video of the speech, which has no sound, will apparently be captured by US forces in late 2001 and leaked to the media in late 2006 (see September 30, 2006). The time stamp on the video footage reads “1/8/2000,” suggesting the speech took place in January 8, 2000 at the end of Ramadan, though it could also be from August 1, 2000, since some countries reverse the order of months and days. The speech takes place at Tarnak Farm, a complex of buildings near Kandahar where bin Laden sometimes lives. Bin Laden speaks in the open air at a podium while the audience sits on the ground. Ramzi bin al-Shibh is said to be in the audience, although photographs, video footage, and even credit card receipts place him at a meeting in Malaysia held from January 5-8 (see January 5-8, 2000). [London Times, 10/1/2006] The video footage focuses more on the audience than the crowd, leading at least one terrorism specialist to speculate that the video maybe have been made by an intelligence agency. [Associated Press, 10/3/2006] It appears US intelligence will later use the footage to identify bin Laden’s followers in the crowd (see September 30, 2006).