Bin Laden Vows More Attacks Against US

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, February 17, 2003

Bin Laden Vows More Attacks Against US - Paper

A Saudi-owned newspaper published excerpts Sunday of what it said was a new audio recording by Osama bin Laden in which he vowed to wage more attacks against American targets throughout the world.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

A Saudi-owned newspaper published excerpts Sunday of what it said was a new audio recording by Osama bin Laden in which he vowed to wage more attacks against American targets throughout the world.

The report follows the airing of an apparently separate tape last week, which intelligence officials said "almost certainly" contained bin Laden's voice.

In the recording reported about on Sunday, which was obtained by the London-based Al Hayat newspaper, the Saudi-born bin Laden urged Muslims to set aside their fear of the United States and fight it, saying Washington was planning to invade more Arab states after Iraq.

Al Hayat said it obtained the recording off an Islamist Web site affiliated with bin Laden's al-Qaida network. The paper did not identify the site and access to Islamist Web sites that have in the past published al-Qaida statements are frequently blocked by Internet hackers.

Al Hayat did not provide a text of the speech, but said the al-Qaida leader had made the 50-minute recording on the occasion of last week's Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha.

"In the recording, Osama bin Laden pledges to maintain the fight against Americans in the world calling on Islamic nations to defeat the Americans," Al Hayat said.

If authenticated, the recording would be the most recent proof that bin Laden had escaped the 2001 U.S.-led military campaign to flush him and his al-Qaida followers from Afghanistan.

It follows another audio tape broadcast last week by Qatar's al-Jazeera television network in which the bin Laden called on Muslims to use suicide attacks and bombings to prevent a U.S.-led war on Iraq.

"The technical analysis tells us it is almost certainly bin Laden," an intelligence official told Reuters last week, adding that the audio was of better quality than a tape released last November.

U.S. officials say that while the speaker on the tape criticized Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, he stressed that the paramount battle for Muslims was with the United States and its allies and said Muslims were justified under Islamic law in defending Iraq from U.S. aggression.

The Bush administration has argued that there is an "unholy alliance" between bin Laden's terror network and Baghdad, which it says has at least harbored fugitive al-Qaida members.

The recordings coincide with a state of high alert in the United States and its ally Britain who said they had concrete information that al-Qaida was planning a slew of attacks.

Analysts have said the tape played into U.S. hands because it showed bin Laden and Saddam both wanted to fight the United States, even if they have disparate political agendas.

Bin Laden: Bush is an 'Idiot'

In the new recording, Al Hayat said bin Laden, Washington's key suspect in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, praised the hijacked airliner attacks and said they proved that Muslims could defeat America.

He also called President Bush an "idiot" and "the Pharaoh of this era," accusing him of waging a "new crusade to divide the region for the sake of Israel."

"The September 11 attackers destroyed the idols of infidel America and rubbed the nose of the United States in the dirt," the newspaper quoted bin Laden as saying.

"They proved that it (the United States) could be defeated and humiliated," he added. "Oh Muslims, do not fear America because we have defeated them repeatedly and they are the most cowardly of people when you meet them face to face."

Al Hayat said the recording was of very good quality and bin Laden could be clearly heard rustling the papers of his speech.

It also quoted unnamed Islamists saying bin Laden had made the recording to clarify al-Qaida's position on Iraq after the al-Jazeera broadcast which the United States said proved the Saudi militant and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were in partnership.

The newspaper did not give any more details, but said bin Laden also talked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, prayed for the militants detained at a U.S. base in Guantanamo, Cuba, and hailed the leader of Egypt's Islamic Jihad militant group who is serving a life sentence in the United States.

Source: agencies

Questions?Comments? Click here

Any Cooperation with US Against Iraq Is Anti-Islamic: Bin Laden

Spring festival vs.Christmas in the eyes of Chinese youth ( 12 Messages)

Saddam Says Iraq Ready to "Defeat" US Troops ( 48 Messages)

What's Behind US Action Against Iraq? ( 9 Messages)

Why US Congress Grants Bush War Authority ( 31 Messages)

China Supports Joint Declaration by France, Germany, Russia on Iraq ( 2 Messages)

Embarrassment Caused by Inter-linked Plagiarism ( 7 Messages)