Oct. 27, 2004
Fox News
WASHINGTON — The CIA is unable to authenticate a videotape that has someone who identifies himself as an American threatening an assault on the United States that would "dwarf" the Sept. 11 attacks.
The tape was handed to the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency by ABC News two days ago, multiple government sources told FOX News. ABC is said to have received the tape last weekend from a terrorist source in Waziristan, a region in Pakistan near the Afghan border where the Taliban and Al Qaeda are believed to be holed up.
"We cannot verify the authenticity of this tape," one official told FOX News after the preliminary technical analysis presented inconclusive results. One source said one problem with the verification process is that the government has only a copy of the tape, not an original.
The speaker in the video is disguised but speaks "alarmingly" fluent English in an American accent, leading some U.S. officials to believe that the voice belongs to Adam Yahiye Gadahn. On the tape, the speaker identifies himself as "Assam the American," a law enforcement source said.
Gadahn, who also goes by the names Adam Pearlman and Abu Suhayb Al-Amriki, is a 25-year-old Southern Californian fingered by the FBI for possible ties to Al Qaeda.
In May, the FBI announced that Gadahn had ties with senior Al Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah in Pakistan, and that he had attended terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and served as a translator for the terror network.
"Adam Yahiye Gadahn is being sought in connection with possible terrorist threats against the United States," the FBI said in an announcement in May. "Although the FBI has no information indicating this individual is connected to any specific terrorist activities, the FBI would like to locate and question this person. He should be considered armed and dangerous."
"He is known to have performed translations … as part of the services he has provided to Al Qaeda," the FBI said.
Gadahn, whose whereabouts are unknown, is believed to have knowledge of an imminent attack on the United States and is being pursued by federal officials.
But officials said Wednesday that Gadahn is "just one possibility" as the tape's speaker. One factor complicating the identification is that the speaker's face is completely masked.
FOX News' Bret Baier, Ian McCaleb and Anna Persky contributed to this report.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,136815,00.html