Bin Laden Tape Attacks Israel, Regional Peace


A smiling Osama bin Laden would rather see Israelis and Palestinians trading bullets and bombs rather
than food and textiles. Securing a peaceful environment for the region's children is not his objective.

By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF, Associated Press Writer

Cairo----January 5.....A speaker who was purportedly Osama bin Laden said on an audiotape that the U.S.-led war in Iraq was the beginning of the "occupation" of Gulf states for their oil and called on Muslims to keep fighting a holy war in the Middle East.

The voice on the audiotape, which was broadcast Sunday on the Al-Jazeera satellite channel, referred to recent events — including the Dec. 13 capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and recent peace initiatives between Israel and the Palestinians.

The speaker urged Muslims to "continue the jihad to check the conspiracies that are hatched against the Islamic nation."

The tape's authenticity could not immediately be verified, although the voice on the tape resembled that of bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaida network.

"The CIA and appropriate intelligence authorities are reviewing the tape to check for its authenticity," Allen Abney, a White House spokesman, said Sunday.

Al-Jazeera played the audiotape while showing a still photo of bin Laden against a dark blue background.

"My message is to incite you against the conspiracies, especially those uncovered by the occupation of the crusaders in Baghdad under the pretext of weapons of mass destruction, and also the situation in (Jerusalem) under the deceptions of the road map and the Geneva initiative," the speaker said.

A Mideast peace plan dubbed the Geneva Accord was launched Dec. 1 by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. The phrase "road map" refers to a U.S.-backed plan for a Palestinian state by 2005.

Ibrahim Hilal, Al-Jazeera's editor-in-chief, told The Associated Press the network received the message Sunday. However, he declined to reveal how it was delivered.

Hilal said he was certain the voice on the tape was bin Laden's.


"It is bin Laden's superb and special Arabic language that is very hard to emulate," Hilal said. "It is undoubtedly his voice, his style, and the typical examples from history he uses."

The original message was 47 minutes long but the network aired only 14, Hilal said.

In those excerpts, the speaker urged Muslims to "liberate the Islamic world from the military occupation of the Crusaders." He said Gulf countries have given in to U.S. pressures "thinking that would not open the door for toppling of the dictatorial regimes by military force from outside, especially after they saw the capture of their previous comrade in treachery, a hireling of America," referring to Saddam.

The speaker criticized leaders of Muslim nations for refusing to pressure the United States on the Palestinian issue and for not supporting the Palestinian resistance. He also criticized Gulf countries for receiving members of the U.S.-appointed interim Iraqi Governing Council.

"The deterioration of the situation of Arabs and Muslims is in ignoring Islam as a basic program for rule," the speaker said while calling for establishing a council to replace the Arab rulers and unify Arab positions.

He also called Middle East issues part of a religious and economic war, saying the "big powers" were trying to control the region for its oil.

"The occupation of Iraq is the beginning of the full occupation of the other Gulf states. ... The Gulf is the key for control of the world in the point of view of the big powers because of the presence of the biggest deposits of oil."

Al-Jazeera last broadcast an audiotape purportedly from bin Laden in October. CIA analysts examining that tape concluded it probably was authentic.

Rival pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya broadcast a tape last month with a voice claiming to be that of bin Laden. But Al-Jazeera and a U.S. official said it was the same videotape that aired on Al-Jazeera in October.

Associated Press reporter Rawya Rageh in Dubai contributed to this report.

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