I just spoke to al Qaida expert Peter Bergen.
He mentioned the following things about the OBL tape. Bergen noted that this is the first time we’ve seen an unambiguously datable tape from bin Laden since December 2001. Whatever injuries he may have sustained on the escape from Afghanistan (remember the lame arm) is clearly healed. And though he still looks older than his forty-seven years, he looks robust and hardly haggard.
As for the Tora Bora issue, Bergen suggests that there were probably more journalists on the ground at Tora Bora than American troops.