New “bin Laden” tape aired
A new tape purportedly by Osama bin Laden has urged Muslims to fight against the US-led coalition in Iraq.
Arabic TV channel Al Jazeera aired the audio-tape said to be from the al-Qaeda leader on Sunday.
Bin Laden is wanted in connection with the 2001 September 11th atrocities, which killed 3,000 people.
The speaker on the tape encourages Muslims to carry out the jihad, or holy war, and slams Arab leaders who “succumbed” to the US occupation.
The voice on the 14-minute-long tape says: “There can be no dialogue with occupiers except through arms. This is what we need today and what we should seek.
“The occupation of Iraq is the beginning of the full occupation of the other Gulf states… because of the presence of the biggest deposits of oil.”
Referring to Saddam Hussein’s arrest last month, the tape says Arab leaders fear that regimes in the Middle East will be overthrown “by armed force from abroad, especially after they have seen the arrest of their former comrade”.
The US believes bin Laden and deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are probably in the mountainous border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
