Perfect timing. Whoever taped the confession of Mohammed Siddique Khan last year, also filmed one of his fellow jihadi compatriots, Shahzad Tanweer. At some point during the production of these videos, someone deicded to hold off one for the anniversary of the event.
Allah and Bill Roggio have both noted the similarities between the tapes, and there's little doubt they were both filmed during the same period, if not the same day. And I hope it puts to rest the idea that 7/7 was an independent action, committed by a few guys angry at UK's Palestinian policies.
But you may be asking: who doubted that 7/7 was an Al Qaeda operation? A lot of MSM outlets continued to cast doubt on the blindingly obvious signs of Al Qaeda's direct involvement. In the months following the attack, it became clear that Al Qaeda was connected to the bombings, because they said so through the messages of Ayman al-Zawahiri. But part of the blame goes to the numerous UK and US couterterrorism "officials" who couldn't find the courage to admit the obvious.
The Telegraph (9/2/05), on the release of Khan's video:
Al-Qaeda appeared to take responsibility for the July 7 London Underground and bus bombings Thursday with the release of a video of a man identified as Mohammad Sidique Khan, the alleged Edgware Road Tube station bomber.
The Guardian (9/2/05), on the release of Khan's video:
But the videotape - in which Zawahiri appeared to admit that al-Qaida was behind the July 7 bombings raised as many questions as it answered. It appeared to contradict British counter-terrorism officials who have said they have no evidence directly linking the July 7 bombers to al-Qaida...Evan Kohlman, a consultant to the US government on Islamist terrorism in Europe, said the tape's message was clear: "This is certainly al-Qaida claiming responsibility for the July 7 attack. They are using the exact same system of proof they used for 9/11."...But there was no consensus on the tape. A former US intelligence officer, Bob Ayers, based in London, said Zawahiri's comments could have been stitched together with Khan's tape. "One possibility for the delay in releasing this video is that al-Qaida may have been trying to look for a way for their leaders to retrospectively claim some credit for this attack.
Associated Press (9/1/05), on the release of the Khan video:
Khan and al-Zawahri did not appear together in the tape, but shots of each were edited together. While their appearance together in an edited tape appeared to show some level of coordination, it would have been more significant had they appeared together in one portion -- indicating that al-Zawahri was a hands-on commander who met directly with an attacker.
Two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the message's sensitive nature, said that any claim of responsibility did not necessarily indicate that al-Qaida planned or directed the attack.
The officials said al-Qaida would regard the London bombings as a victory whether they were directly involved in them or not.
Agence France Presse (9/3/05):
British counter-terrorism officials remained skeptical of a direct al-Qaeda link to the deadly London bombings despite the posthumous video message from one of the bombers, a newspaper said Saturday...However, a senior counter-terrorism said "it leaves us in the same position," according to the Guardian newspaper. Counter-terrorism officials still hold the view that the plotters were "home-grown," and say there is no evidence of a mastermind," the newspaper reported.
A police source quoted by the Guardian said of al-Qaeda's claim of direct responsibility: "It doesn't have to be so," but further evaluation was necessary. "It makes it a bit more likely al-Qaeda were directly involved," he added.
Upon the 9/19/05 release of a Zawahiri tape explicitly claiming responsibility for the London attacks we have the following:
Associated Press:
A counterterrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said that it remains unclear whether al-Qaida planned or directed the London attacks, as opposed to inspiring them.
The official said the message appears to be an attempt to intimidate and noted the organization has recently increased the volume of its messages, considered propaganda by U.S. intelligence.
UPDATE
Then there's this 9/3/05 (UK) Times article that suggests that Al-Jazeera may have known of the existence of the Tanweer tape as early as September 2005:
AL-QAEDA is reported to have more home-made film from the July 7 bombers.
The additional footage is believed to include the gang's leader, Mohammad Sidique Khan, directly confessing to the attacks on London which killed 56 people. Another of the cell, Shehzad Tanweer, is also said to appear, according to a source involved in obtaining the film for the Arabic satellite channel, Al-Jazeera.
