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Bin Laden Warns of Attacks, Offers Truce
2 minutes ago
CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Jazeera aired an audiotape purportedly from
Osama bin Laden on Thursday, saying al-Qaida is making preparations for attacks in the United States but offering a truce to rebuild
Iraq and
Afghanistan. The voice on the tape said heightened security measures in the United States are not the reason there have been no attacks there since the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijackings.
Instead, the reason is "because there are operations that need preparations, and you will see them," he said.
"Based on what I have said, it is better not to fight the Muslims on their land," he said. "We do not mind offering you a truce that is fair and long-term. ... So we can build Iraq and Afghanistan ... there is no shame in this solution because it prevents wasting of billions of dollars ... to merchants of war."
The speaker did not give conditions for a truce in the excerpts aired by the Arab broadcaster.
Actually it was an audiotape, my bad. I think it probably means that Pakistan Predator attack inflicted significant damage. Does he really mean a 'truce'? No way, nor would we go with that.Hobbit said:Every time bin Laden rears his ugly head, he uses lines straight out of the Democratic talking points...and that pisses me off!!! Do the Dems not realize what they're doing to empower these people?
Maybe Dennis Radoman is going to punish you with his crazy hair.dmp said:Here's the last Osama Video Tape
"Your President Bush has been misleading you. He has lied when he said that the people are behind him. Opinion polls have indicated that the overwhelming majority of you want him to pull the troops out of our land.
"We have the answer to these misleading information. The situation in Iraq is getting worse for you and the dead and the injured among you is on the rise," the voice on the tape said.
Hearts and minds----is that some kind of euphemistic way of saying that we need to get the civilians to put up with the policies set foreward by the government without responding with violence? America can barely win the hearts and the minds of its own people. How about we just settle for toleration. "Hearts and minds" gets into psychobabble and propaganda that even Americans don't buy.Mariner said:sounds like he's scared. Good.
Hobbit--Democratic talking points? Huh? Why not use the Republican phrase instead, the "war for the hearts and minds" of the Muslim peoples around the world? For Democrats to be somewhat more willing to listen to what actually bothers Muslim people hardly makes us complicit in bin Laden's terrorism. That's an insulting statement.
On the other hand, by going at the problem cowboy-style, as Bush has, perhaps it's all too easy to win the battle, but lose the "hearts and minds" war. It's not a Democratic talking point to wonder whether we're creating terrorists with some of our actions--it's a serious military worry right now, which has been voiced by Republicans and military figures, and was suggested by the conservative think tank, the Cato institute, last year. And it's not a Democratic talking point to notice that support for the U.S. among neutral Muslim nations has fallen precipitously as a result of our invasion of Iraq--when it had risen to new heights following 9/11, and had not been hurt by our actions in Afghanistan.
All that aside, I hope that the Iraq experiment succeeds, that a Democracy is established there, and that the Muslim world comes around concedes that the intervention was useful. If we're lucky, the hearts and minds battle can be won that way. But don't pretend there is no such battle.
Mariner.
CIA Confirms It's Bin Laden on Audiotape
By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer 43 minutes ago
Al-Jazeera on Thursday aired an audiotape from Osama bin Laden, who says al-Qaida is making preparations for attacks in the United States but offers a truce on "fair" but undefined conditions. The CIA has authenticated the voice on the tape as that of bin Laden, an agency official said.
The tape's release came days after a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan that was targeting bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, and reportedly killed four leading al-Qaida figures, including possibly al-Zawahri's son-in-law. There was no mention of the attack on the segments that were broadcast.
It was the first tape from the al-Qaida leader in more than a year the longest period without a message since the Sept. 11 2001 suicide hijackings in the United States.
The al-Qaida leader is believed to be hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Al-Jazeera said the tape was recorded in the Islamic month that corresponds with December.
Bin Laden refers to an alleged comment by President Bush about bombing the Qatar headquarters of Al-Jazeera, which was first reported in the British press on Nov. 22.
He also refers indirectly to the July 7 bombings in London that killed 56 people and to poll numbers that showed a fall in Bush's popularity, as occurred in late 2005.
U.S. counterterror officials said Thursday they have seen no specific or credible intelligence to indicate an upcoming al-Qaida attack on the country.
The United States will not let up in the war on terror despite the threats on the tape, said White House press secretary Scott McClellan. "We do not negotiate with terrorists," McClellan said. "We put them out of business."
While warning against downplaying the taped threat, officials at intelligence and law enforcement agencies said there has been no recent increase in "chatter" that can indicate that such an attack is imminent.
In the tape, bin Laden said he was directing his message to the American people after polls showed that "an overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq but (Bush) opposed that desire."
He said insurgents were winning the conflict in Iraq and warned that security measures in the West and the United States could not prevent attacks there.
"The proof of that is the explosions you have seen in the capitals of European nations," he said "The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures. The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through (with preparations), with God's permission."
The al-Qaida leader did not spell out conditions for a truce in the excerpts aired by Al-Jazeera.
"We do not mind offering you a long-term truce with fair conditions that we adhere to," he said. "We are a nation that God has forbidden to lie and cheat. So both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed in this war.
"There is no shame in this solution, which prevents the wasting of billions of dollars that have gone to those with influence and merchants of war in America," he said.
In an Arabic transcription of the entire tape on the Al-Jazeera Web site but not aired bin Laden makes an oblique reference to how to prevent new attacks on the United States, but does not specify if these are conditions for a truce.
Bin Laden tells Americans that "if you are sincere in your desire for peace and security, and if Bush refuses to do anything but continue lies and oppression," then he recommends Americans read a book entitled "The Rogue State," apparently a reference to a book of that title by political analyst William Blum. The book has been published in Arabic.
"In its introduction, it states: 'If I were president, I would stop the attacks on the United States: First I would give an apology to all the widows and orphans and those who were tortured. Then I would announce that American interference in the nations of the world has ended,'" he said.
The last audiotape from bin Laden was broadcast in December 2004 by Al-Jazeera. In that recording, he endorsed Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq and called for a boycott of Iraqi elections.
He issued numerous tapes in 2003 and 2004, calling for Muslims to attack U.S. interests and threatening attacks against the United States.
In an April 15, 2004, audiotape, he vowed revenge against the United States for Israel's assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin and at the same time offered a truce to European countries.
Bin Laden appeared in a video released October 2004, just ahead of U.S. presidential elections, saying the United States can avoid another Sept. 11 attack if it stops threatening the security of Muslims.
Since December 2004, bin Laden's deputy in al-Qaida, al-Zawahri, has issued a number of video and audiotapes, including one claiming responsibility for the London attacks, which he said came after Europe rejected the terms of a truce al-Qaida had previously offered them.
Al-Jazeera's editor-in-chief Ahmed al-Sheik would not comment on when or where the latest tape was received. He said the full tape was 10 minutes long. The station aired excerpts with what it "considered newsworthy," he said, but would not say what was on the remainder.
Jeremy Bennie, a terrorism analyst for Jane's Defense Weekly, said bin Laden appeared to be "playing the peacemaker, the more statesmanlike character" with his offer of a truce.
"They want to promote the image that they can launch attacks if and when it suits them. That's the message of a powerful organization, not a weakened one. They want us to believe they are in control," he said.
The mention of rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan may be a recognition of divisions among the ranks of Islamic militants over the insurgency in Iraq by bin Laden's ally, al-Zarqawi, who has come under criticism by some radicals for attacks on Iraqi civilians.
"The initial significance of this is that he's still alive," former White House antiterrorism chief Richard A. Clarke said.
Beyond that, he told The Associated Press, "the only new element in his statement is that they are planning an attack soon on the United States.
"Would he say that and risk being proved wrong, if he can't pull it off in a month or so?" Clarke asked.
Of the truce offer, which Clarke said bin Laden has made before, "I think it's designed to make him look more reasonable in Arab and Muslim eyes. He's a very sophisticated reader of world opinion and American opinion, and he obviously knows he can't affect American thinking. He's too reviled."
Intelligence authorities were examining why bin Laden would be speaking out after more than a year of letting his al-Zawahri serve as al-Qaida's public face in statements and other communications.
no1tovote4 said:I think he may be maimed or near death. He could even be dead. This audio tape only mentioned 'attacks on european capitals'. He knew they were planning those attacks so he could make the tape long before the attacks then his followers could release them when they became accurate.
manu1959 said:we haven't attcaked because we have been planning
we will attack soon
we are willing to negotiate a truce
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
offer the truce
request that everyone show up some where to sign the documents
kill them all
Semper Fi said:Attacks on European capitals. That could have referenced Madrid in 2004. In the timeline of the war on terror as we know it, that's quite a while ago.
no1tovote4 said:Exactly, plus he would know of plans of more of them. This is an audiotape. He could have made several, and when the followers see them appear to be accurate they could then release them through al-Jazeera, the news branch of al-Qaeda.
