Al-Jazira plays BinLaden tape.

Fox News ^ | 1/04/2004 | Associated Press

[Robert Barber]

CAIRO, Egypt — An audiotape purportedly from Usama bin Laden (search) was broadcast Sunday on the Al-Jazeera satellite channel, urging Muslims to continue fighting a holy war in Iraq and the Middle East rather than cooperate with peace efforts.

The speaker, who referred to recent events -- including the December capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, called on Muslims to "continue the jihad to check the conspiracies that are hatched against the Islamic nation." He said the U.S.-led war against Iraq was the beginning of the "occupation" of Gulf states for their oil.

"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 (search) 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.

The tape's authenticity could not immediately be verified, although the voice on the tape resembled that of bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaeda (search) 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.

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.

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 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."

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."

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.

[Robert Barber]

Reading the article, I am caused to wonder why we have not shut down Al-Jazira as a terrorist communication network.

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[blaster88]

Perhaps this message is actually from the US. UBL is dead, so it has to be someone else. This message is a threat to the Arab rulers, not the US. The voice criticizes the Arab states as too weak to resist the US.

Strong horse, baby!

[Paleo Conservative]

Al-Jazira plays creates BinLaden tape.

[Alouette]

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

[JustPiper]

Knowing what we know, you have to question what was in the other "33" minutes

[JustPiper]

he urged Muslims to fight against the U.S. occupation in Iraq.

Following our thread, you would know in order to accomplish this he could mean stopping America by "going to it's source "Belly of the Best" "Belly of the Eagle"

Ongoing Thread of Terror Research

[yooper]

Damn their oil to hell. I hope we find an alternate mass source of energy so that we can tell the bastards to drink it, or put it in their hair, or lube their camels asses with it, etc.

At the risk of being wrong again (I thought Saddam was dead), I still think OBL is dust and has been for over a year.

[eastforker]

They are useful idiots. Can you imagine what we would miss if not for these scumbags,What on earth would we have to talk about.

[DCBar]

I detect a persistent inability to recognize the obvious - bin Laden is alive. The amount of denial going on here is amazing.

[JustPiper]

I knew there would have to be many posts on this tape, especially to those of us deeply involved in this. Here is the earlier thread:

Here

[Theresawithanh]

That picture makes me laugh my fanny off every time I see it!

I am of the opinion that OBL is no longer with us, but like another poster said, I also thought Saddam was dead. I based this partly on the fact that OBL wasn't seen live from an undisclosed location going "nyah, nyah, ya missed me!"

[recalcitrant]

I believe he is alive as well.
Hiding where?
Probably western China... or in plain sight, in pakistan.

eventually, we will ace him... at a moment of our choosing.
If we had knowledge of him being kaput, we would be exposing it BIG time.

Sadaam may be ratting him out as we speak.