[Mb-civic] Purported Bin Laden Audio Tape Warns of Attacks - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Purported Bin Laden Audio Tape Warns of Attacks

By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 19, 2006; 12:27 PM

A man purported to be Osama bin Laden warned that al Qaeda is preparing 
new terrorist attacks in the United States but indicated the group was 
open to a truce in response to U.S. public opinion against the war in 
Iraq, according to an audiotape aired by an Arabic television network today.

Portions of the tape were broadcast by the al-Jazeera satellite 
television network. The speaker reportedly sounded like bin Laden, but 
there was no immediate confirmation that the voice on the tape was his.

If authentic, the tape would mark the first time that bin Laden has been 
heard from since December 2004, when he urged Iraqis to boycott the 
January 2005 elections in Iraq and praised attacks by Abu Musab Zarqawi, 
a Jordanian terrorist who heads an al Qaeda affiliate in Iraq. Since 
then, all the broadcast messages from al Qaeda's top leadership have 
been delivered by bin Laden's Egyptian deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, prompting 
some speculation that bin Laden himself was dead or incapacitated.

On the tape, the speaker alleged to be bin Laden charges that President 
Bush is misleading the American people and warns that U.S. forces should 
leave Iraq and Afghanistan. The speaker refers to attacks in Europe and 
threatens more such strikes in the United States.

"Our mujaheddin [Islamic fighters] were able to overcome all the 
security measures in European countries, and you saw their operation in 
major European capitals," the speaker says, according to a translation 
by CNN.

"As for similar operations taking place in America, it's only a matter 
of time. They are in the planning stages, and you will see them in the 
heart of your land as soon as the planning is complete."

There was no immediate indication of when the audiotape was recorded. It 
was aired less than a week after a U.S. air strike on a suspected al 
Qaeda hideout in a remote area of Pakistan killed at least 13 people, 
but apparently not the main target of the attack, Zawahiri. Reportedly 
among those killed were several top al Qaeda operatives, as well as 
women and children.

A senior administration official said U.S. intelligence was trying to 
determine whether the speaker on the audiotape was really bin Laden. 
Even if that is confirmed, the government would be wary about drawing 
any conclusions from the audiotape until U.S. intelligence has done its 
own translation and analyzed the statements in context, the official said.

According to the CNN translation, the speaker on the tape warns that 
"the war against America and its allies will not be confined to Iraq," 
which he says "has become a magnet for attracting and training talented 
fighters."

References on the tape to attacks in Europe appeared to indicate that it 
was recorded sometime after four suicide bombers killed 52 people in a 
July 7, 2005, attack on London's transportation system.

Al-Jazeera said on its Web site that the tape dates to December 2005, 
but did not say how this conclusion was reached.

The network's editor in chief, Ahmed Sheik, said the full tape is 10 
minutes long and that four "newsworthy" excerpts were broadcast, the 
Associated Press reported. Sheik would not say what was on the rest of 
the tape or comment on when or where it was received.

"This message is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end 
those wars," the tape begins, according a translation by al-Jazeera. "It 
was not my intention to talk to you about this, because those wars are 
definitely going our way. But what triggered my desire to talk to you is 
the continuous deliberate misinformation given by your President Bush, 
when it comes to polls made in your home country which reveal that the 
majority of your people are willing to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq."

The speaker cites unspecified polls that "show the Americans don't want 
to fight the Muslims on Muslim land, nor do they want Muslims to fight 
them on their land." However, he says, Bush has ignored the polls and 
"claims that it's better to fight his enemies on their land rather than 
on American land."

The speaker continues, "In response to the substance of the polls . . . 
we do not mind offering a long-term truce based on just conditions that 
we will stick to. We are a nation that Allah banned from lying and 
stabbing others in the back. Hence both parties of the truce will enjoy 
stability and security to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, which were 
destroyed by war."

The speaker offered no details of such a truce in the portions of the 
tape that al Jazeera aired.

Bin laden previously offered a truce to European countries in an 
audiotape that was broadcast in April 2004.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/19/AR2006011901465.html?nav=hcmodule
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