Videotape Warns of Attacks on U.S.

WASHINGTON — The CIA is analyzing a purported terrorist videotape obtained in Pakistan in which a disguised man claimed to be from the United States and warned of a coming wave of violence against America, according to U.S. intelligence officials and sources familiar with the contents of the recording.

The hourlong tape contains markings that indicate it was produced by Al Qaeda, makes reference to recent events including bloodshed in Sudan, and includes apocalyptic warnings that U.S. “streets will run with blood,” officials and sources said.

But U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials said that they had not been able to verify the authenticity of the recording, and that U.S. authorities did not have any information linking it to plans for a specific attack.

“We don’t yet have a positive ID on the speaker,” said one U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official added that the speaker’s face was almost completely covered by a head scarf and dark glasses.

“He may or may not have been born” in the United States, the official said. “But he does say in the tape that the United States is the country of his origin and he speaks English.”

The tape was first obtained over the weekend by ABC News in Pakistan, according to Jeffrey W. Schneider, vice president of the network’s news division in New York. He declined to elaborate on the source of the recording, but said ABC provided a copy to the CIA and the FBI.

Because the tape had not been authenticated, Schneider said the network had no immediate plans to broadcast it. “It would be grossly inappropriate for a news organization to go ahead and air a tape like this without confirming its authenticity,” he said.

At a time when every major news report has a possibility for influencing an unusually tight presidential election, the network is placed in the unusual position of having other news organizations report on the tape in its possession while ABC has not. “Until it’s confirmed, it’s not a story,” Schneider said, “and if it is confirmed, then we’re a news organization and we report news.”

On the tape, the speaker identifies himself as “Assam the American,” and refers to Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, as “our leaders,” sources said. The speaker appears before a blue backdrop to avoid yielding clues on where the recording was made.

A U.S. intelligence official said the video “appears to be released by Al Qaeda’s media organization” because it contains a banner attributing the recording to the Sahab production committee, an organization that has been behind previous recordings released by the terrorist network.

“The content of the video is classic Al Qaeda propaganda in terms of anti-U.S. ideology,” the intelligence official said, adding that the CIA believed the video was made as recently as late summer because of references to recent events, including “same-sex marriage legislation” in the United States. The tape also “mentions the 9/11 commission,” the bipartisan panel that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks, the intelligence official said.

One source said the speaker “appears to be someone who learned English as a young man or a young child, and is not a native speaker.”

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Times staff writers Richard B. Schmitt in Washington and Elizabeth Jensen in New York contributed to this report.