Intelligence

Bin Laden warns of possible new attacks

Bin Laden warns of possible new attacks

By Ghaida Ghantous
DUBAI (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden has burst into the U.S. election campaign, issuing his first videotape in more than a year to deride President George W. Bush and warn of possible new September 11-style attacks.

Bin Laden, making his clearest claim yet of responsibility for the September 11 strikes of 2001, said Bush had failed Americans with his Middle East policies, deceiving the nation and putting it at risk from further al Qaeda strikes.

Appearing in a video released from hiding to Al Jazeera TV on Saturday, four days before the U.S. presidential poll, and gesturing with a finger to stress points, bin Laden said the September 11 attacks would not have been so severe if Bush had been alert.

"Despite entering the fourth year after September 11, Bush is still deceiving you and hiding the truth from you and therefore the reasons are still there to repeat what happened (with new attacks)," he said.

In what seemed a deliberate attempt to influence Tuesday's U.S. election, bin Laden used the opening line: "O American people, I am speaking to tell you about the ideal way to avoid another Manhattan, about war and its causes and results."

But he made little mention of Bush's Democratic challenger John Kerry, saying: "Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands and each state which does not harm our security will remain safe."

Bush, who ordered U.S. forces to capture bin Laden dead or alive after the September 11 attacks, vowed that "Americans will not be intimidated or influenced" by the video.

Kerry, who has criticised Bush for failing to capture bin Laden by diverting troops to Iraq, called bin Laden a barbarian.

"I will stop at absolutely nothing to hunt down and capture or kill the terrorists wherever they are, whatever it takes," he said, running neck and neck with Bush in opinion polls.

"PUNISH THE UNJUST"

Bin Laden, looking healthy and speaking forcefully, said he thought of the idea of attacking the U.S. skyscrapers when he saw Israeli aircraft bombing tower blocks in Lebanon in 1982.

"As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me to punish the unjust the same way ... to destroy towers in America so that it can taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women," said bin Laden.

"We had agreed with the overall commander Mohammed Atta (who led the Sept 11. suicide plane hijackers), may God rest his soul, to carry out all operations in 20 minutes before Bush and his administration take notice," he said.

"This had given us three times the time needed to carry out the operations. Thanks be to God."

The al Qaeda leader, apparently sitting or standing at a table against a neutral brown background, wore a white head covering and white tunic under a light brown cloak. His full beard a mixture of white and dark grey.

The White House said there was no change in the U.S. terror alert level at present despite the video. A U.S. official said the video did not appear to contain a specific threat.

"There is no change in (the alert level) at this time but it's something we analyse all the time," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "We are on a heightened state of awareness already."

U.S. intelligence agencies believed that it appeared to be bin Laden on the tape, U.S. officials said.

American officials have said they suspect he is hiding in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

An Al Jazeera editor said the Qatar-based channel had received the video tape on Friday but did not say how. He said the tape was new but did not give any details.

Saudi-born bin Laden last appeared in a video tape broadcast by Al Jazeera in September 2003, showing him and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri descending a mountainside calling for jihad and praising the September 11 hijackers.

In April, Arab television stations broadcast an audio tape purportedly from bin Laden offering a three-month truce to Europeans if they withdrew troops from Muslim nations. The deadline expired with no word from bin Laden.

October 29, 2004 at 07:59 PM in Al Qaeda | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home