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lpetrich
Skeptic Friend
USA
74 Posts |
 Posted - 11/24/2001 : 15:45:01
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One objection to rebroadcasting ObL's videotaped messages is that they might contain coded instructions to his troops. This is certainly possible; Japan had used such a code back in 1941, when Japan was headed for war against the Allies. A Japanese radio station was to broadcast a certain short phrase to indicate which would indicate which nation; the phrases were:
- East win rain -- the US
- North wind cloudy -- the USSR
- West wind clear -- the UK
The wind sources indicate the direction to reach each nation from Japan; the US is eastward across the Pacific Ocean, the closest part of the USSR is northward, and the UK is westward at the other end of Eurasia.
There was no "south wind hazy", possibly because there was no big independent Allied nation to the south; Australia was part of the British Empire and Antarctica is mainly inhabited by penguins.
So what kind of code would ObL use? He could use Koran verses, with different sorts of verses meaning different attacks. Thus, he could describe the joys of Paradise, with each joy being code for some attack:
- water
- wine
- luxury
- cute servant boys
- Houris, those pretty ladies
URL on the Muslim Paradise: http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate/heaven.html
The main downside I see is a very low bandwidth, so such messages would likely be used only as simple signals, as the Japanese ones had been.
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PhDreamer
SFN Regular
USA
925 Posts |
Posted - 11/24/2001 : 20:51:51 [Permalink]
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I can't imagine coded, videotaped messages, rebroadcast on CNN, are bin Laden's only way to get messages to his cells. That said, I can't think of any benefit, ratings aside, that broadcasting bin Laden's tapes in primetime would confer. I'm fuzzy on the law, though; can the US government withhold the tapes?
There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! It wasn't my fault, I swear to god! - Jake Blues |
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Donnie B.
Skeptic Friend
417 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2001 : 07:45:25 [Permalink]
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quote:
I'm fuzzy on the law, though; can the US government withhold the tapes?
I'm no lawyer, either, but my guess would be that such before-the-fact censorship could only be done on a "cooperative" basis -- the government would get the media to agree not to broadcast materials of certain types.
This is, in fact, what has happened.
If, however, CNN broadcast something the government didn't like (either not covered under the cooperative agreement, or despite it), the government would have to demonstrate in court that the broadcast was somehow harmful to the US's national interests, and that CNN knew this and broadcast it anyway -- that is, prove treason.
A bin Laden tape could not be declared "classified" because it is not owned or produced by the government.
-- Donnie B.
Brian: "No, no! You have to think for yourselves!" Crowd: "Yes! We have to think for ourselves!" |
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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2001 : 23:59:55 [Permalink]
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quote:
One objection to rebroadcasting ObL's videotaped messages is that they might contain coded instructions to his troops
It's all a plot. Bush is behind it. Think of all the bills that congress has probably been passing while OUR minds are on coded messages. Who are we to be debating if they should or should not or could or could not be coaded or broadcasted. No one, that is the government is not going to listen to what we say. We need to get back to watching over congress and the sneaky things they are doing. That IS something we can at least try to controll.
Rap Crap is to music what Paint by Numbers is to art. |
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