>MSNBC has just reported that their news division has agreed to withhold airing Al Qaeda pre-recorded statements until they have been fully screened for any hidden messages to terrorists.
>I realize that this is a method used for disseminating instructions, and having spent 8 years in the military intelligence field and 7 years as a government employee following that, I am extremely sensitive to this subject. However, this will not prevent the information from getting to the terrorists. In my opinion this is sensorship and the only audience prevented from having immediate access to public information is us, the American public. Any terrorist looking for hidden messages will still get the instructions (if any) via sattellite news on Al Jazeera.

After having sat through the apparently "live" feed from Al Jazeera of bin Laden's taped message, I'll happily wait for others to translate it. The first time I saw it, the translator seemed to make it sound like bin Laden was talking in a stream of conciousness mode. Obviously, from the video, bin Laden seemed to be giving a much more polished presentation. Until I saw the translation online, it really didn't make much sense. How long can it possibly take to translate a 10 minute video? I think the American public can handle the delay.

I just talked to my brother who works for ABC in New York. He said there's a pool of translators, and all news agencies can draw from the same translation (or provide their own, if they want to take more time). It's going to get done fast, and hopefully, accurately.

Besides, it's in bin Laden's interest to clean up the translation. I couldn't determine if the translator was that bad at bin Laden's language, that bad at English, terrible at both, just a horrible public speaker, or translating bin Laden word for word, in which case, bin Laden's less "together" than I thought. It made FAR more sense on line (well, the thoughts were more composed. I still don't agree with some of the content...)

- della