A CIA technical analysis of an audiotape aired on al Jazeera satellite television channel this week shows “almost certainly” it is of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a U.S. intelligence official told Reuters on Friday. “The technical analysis tells us it is almost certainly bin Laden,” the intelligence official said, adding the audio was of better quality than a tape released last November. Another U.S. official said “fairly sophisticated” means were used to compare the recent audiotape with past samples known to be of bin Laden’s voice. U.S. intelligence analysts familiar with bin Laden’s voice had earlier this week determined the tape was probably of the al Qaeda leader, but it could not be determined to a greater degree of probability until the technical analysis was conducted. Full Story