(2007)

5 Example: Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri

As-Sahab is the video production branch of Al Qaeda. They periodically release videos designed to remind people of Al Qaeda’s existence, issue threats, recruit members, and potentially act as a covert channel for triggering terrorist cells. Many of the videos by As-Sahab appear to have been manipulated.

On 20-Dec-2006, Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri (#2 guy in Al Qaeda) released a video. USA Today covered the video release with a headline story (Figure 25).24 USA Today’s description of the video says, “He wore a black turban and white robe … he had a rifle behind his right shoulder that was leaning against a plain brown backdrop.” While this is a valid description of the As-Sahab video, the picture used by USA Today did not show that image. Instead, USA Today used a picture from another video, dated 28-Sept-2006. This is an example of a mislabeled image.

The picture that USA Today chose to use with the story includes many other interesting features. First, it came from the IntelCenter (www.intelcenter.com) – an organization that tracks terrorist activities. The IntelCenter placed their logo in the top-right corner of the video. However, the company name is clearly cropped – likely by USA Today. A comparison with the same frame from the actual video shows many other observable differences. In particular, the IntelCenter adjusted the color and sharpness of the picture (Figure 26).

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5.1 Other Al Zawahiri Videos

The video from 28-Sept-2006 was not the only manipulated video. In fact, many of the videos featuring al Zawahiri test positive for chroma-key masking. Consider the video released on 27-July-2006 (Figure 27).26 This video appears to show al Zawahiri sitting in a video studio.

When this video came out, many Americans became enraged at the US government. The main strife was generated
by a single argument: if al Zawahiri is sitting in a studio making videos, the why can’t we catch him? The answer is simple: he is not in a studio.

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5.2 Back in Black

Claiming that there was a chroma-key background is not the same as actually seeing it. On 22-Jan-2007, the SITE
Institute (www.siteinstitute.org) – an organization that tracks terrorist activities – announced that they had
intercepted an Al Qaeda video before it had been publicly released; SITE released it. Three days later, As-Sahab
also released the video. ….