Analysts Study New 'Osama Bin Laden' Tape That Applauds Recent Terrorists Atrocities

Analysts study new 'Osama bin Laden' tape that applauds recent terrorist atrocities

Intelligence analysts were examining a taped message last night said to have been made by Osama bin Laden in which he praises a recent spate of terrorist attacks and warns of more attacks if the West attacks Iraq.

The message was broadcast across the Arab world yesterday by the Al-Jazeera television network, which refused to say how it obtained the recording but said it had been made by the al-Qa'ida leader.

If the voice is authenticated it would send a jolt through Western intelligence agencies, which have been unsure for the past year whether Bin Laden was dead or alive.

The last evidence he was alive was a videotape of him having dinner with some of his deputies, believed to have been filmed in Afghanistan on 9 November last year. Many experts believe that Bin Laden was killed in bomb attacks on al-Qa'ida hide-outs in the mountains of Tora Bora shortly after that video was filmed.

In yesterday's tape, the speaker refers to last month's Bali bombing which killed almost 200 people, the killing last month of a marine in Kuwait, the bombing of a French oil tanker last month off Yemen and the Chechen hostage- taking in Moscow. It said the attacks were "undertaken by sons who are zealous in the defence of their religion".

It added: "[The attacks are] only a reaction in response to what [President George] Bush, the pharaoh of the age, is doing by killing our sons in Iraq and what America's ally Israel is doing, bombarding houses with women and old people and children inside with American planes.

"Our people in Palestine are being killed, are being subjected to the worst kind of suffering for almost a century now. If we defend our people in Palestine the world is disturbed and allied against Muslims under the banner of combating terrorism."

The speaker went on to condemn those countries that have backed America in the so-called war against terrorism, specifically identifying Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Australia.

"If you don't like looking at your dead ... so remember our dead, including the children in Iraq," it said.

American intelligence officials were examining the tape to try to verify if the voice was Bin Laden's. "We've seen the reports on the tape and we're looking into it," said Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

In an interview to mark the anniversary of the attacks on New York and Washington, Mr Bush said in September: "I don't know whether Osama Bin Laden is dead or alive. He's not leading a lot of parades."

That same month, Al-Jazeera network aired voice recordings of Bin Laden and top al-Qa'ida operatives. The CIA authenticated Bin Laden's voice then, but officials said the recordings were unlikely to have been made recently.

Experts have said the al-Qa'ida network has started a public relations campaign aimed at keeping itself in the public eye and associated with events, such as a possible war in Iraq, in an effort to increasingly turn the Arab public against America.

Excerpts From 'bin Laden' Tape
By The Associated Press

November 12, 2002, 7:35 PM EST

Excerpts from the official U.S. government transcript of the audiotape purporting to be of Osama bin Laden:

The road to safety begins by ending the aggression. Reciprocal treatment is part of justice. The incidents that have taken place since the raids of New York and Washington until now -- like the killing of Germans in Tunisia and the French in Karachi, the bombing of the giant French tanker in Yemen, the killing of Marines in Failaka and the British and Australians in the Bali explosions, the recent operation in Moscow, and some sporadic operations here and there -- are only reactions and reciprocal actions. These actions were carried out by the zealous sons of Islam in defense of their religion and in response to the order of their God and prophet. ... What Bush, the pharaoh of this age, was doing in terms of killing our sons in Iraq, and what Israel, the United States' ally, was doing in terms of bombing houses that shelter old people, women and children with U.S.-made aircraft in Palestine were sufficient to prompt the sane among your rulers to distance themselves from this criminal gang.

* __

Our kinfolk in Palestine have been slain and severely tortured for nearly a century. If we defend our people in Palestine, the world becomes agitated and allies itself against Muslims, unjustly and falsely, under the pretense of fighting terrorism. What do your governments want by allying themselves with the criminal gang in the White House against Muslims? Do your governments not know that the White House gangsters are the biggest butchers of this age? Rumsfeld, the butcher of Vietnam, killed more than 2 million people, not to mention those he wounded. Cheney and Powell killed and destroyed in Baghdad more than Hulegu of the Mongols. What do your governments want from their alliance with America in attacking us in Afghanistan? I mention in particular Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Australia.

* __

We warned Australia before not to join in the war in Afghanistan, and against its despicable effort to separate East Timor. It ignored the warning until it woke up to the sounds of explosions in Bali.

* __

If you were distressed by the deaths of your men and the men of your allies in Tunisia, Karachi, Failaka, Bali and Amman, remember our children who are killed in Palestine and Iraq everyday.

* __

If you were distressed by the killing of your nationals in Moscow, remember ours in Chechnya. Why should fear, killing, destruction, displacement, orphaning and widowing continue to be our lot, while security, stability and happiness be your lot? This is unfair. It is time we get even. You will be killed just as you kill, and will be bombed just as you bomb. And expect more that will further distress you.
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press

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