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Bin Laden threatens new attacks
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3966741.stm

Arabic TV station al-Jazeera has broadcast a videotape apparently featuring Osama Bin Laden, in which he threatens new attacks on the US.

In his opening remarks, the al-Qaeda leader accused President George W Bush of deceiving Americans in the years since the 11 September 2001 attacks.

He compared the Bush administration to what he termed corrupt Arab regimes.

The development comes as US voters prepare to go to the polls on Tuesday in the presidential election.

Bin Laden said he first thought of attacking the US after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

He said the attacks on the US would have been less severe if President Bush had been more alert.

But he added that the security of the American people depended neither on Mr Bush nor on his challenger, John Kerry, but on US policy.

"The reasons to repeat what happened remain," he said, quoted by the AFP news agency.

If genuine, this is the first videotape of Bin Laden speaking to have surfaced since the US-led war in Afghanistan following the 11 September attacks, which he is generally thought to have masterminded.

It was not obvious when the video was recorded.

However, several audio messages believed to be from Bin Laden have emerged since then.

The most recent, posted on a website known to be used by Islamist militants, strongly criticised the US and coalition forces in Iraq and ordered a jihad, or holy war, against them.

Bin Laden's Message To America
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/29/terror/main652373.shtml

(CBS/AP) The Arab television station Al-Jazeera aired a video of Osama bin Laden on Friday directly admitting for the first time that he carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and promising to outline "the best way to avoid another Manhattan."

It was the first footage of the al Qaeda leader to surface in more than a year. The video showed bin Laden in traditional white robes, a turban and a cloak reading from papers and standing in front of a plain, brown cloth background.

"We decided to destroy towers in America," bin Laden said.

He said the attack was carried out because "we are a free people ... and we want to regain the freedom of our nation."

"Your security is not in the hands of (Democratic candidate John) Kerry or (President ) Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands," he said.