New al-Qaida Message Said Legitimate

Associated Press ^ | Tuesday, June 25, 2002

[Dog Gone]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The recent audio recording of al-Qaida's spokesman threatening new attacks against the United States appears to be legitimate, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

Government analysts have matched the voice of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith to his voice from previous recordings, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Officials will analyze the recording further before making a final determination, the official said.

In the recording, Abu Ghaith says bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, are alive, and so is Taliban leader Mullah Omar. The message was released as an audio file on Islamic Web sites. A similar recording was delivered to an Arabic television network in Qatar.

``I want to assure Muslims that Sheik Osama bin Laden ... is in good and prosperous health and all (that) is being rumored about his illness and injury in Tora Bora has no truth,'' Abu Ghaith said, according to excerpts.

Although Bush administration officials have said publicly they don't know whether bin Laden is alive or dead, U.S. intelligence officials have little doubt he has survived the U.S.-led war on terrorism thus far.

Abu Ghaith is in hiding like the rest of al-Qaida leadership, the U.S. official said. The spokesman's message refers to recent events and appears to have been made in last few months.

The message says al-Qaida was responsible for the April 11 truck bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia that killed 19, mostly German tourists. Bin Laden lieutenant Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, whom U.S. officials say is the likely mastermind of the Sept. 11 attack, is suspected by American officials of links to that attack as well.

Abu Ghaith said al-Qaida still has ``the capability to threaten America and execute such threats. The few coming days and months will prove to the whole world, Allah willing, the truth of what we are saying.''

He also agreed with U.S. officials' spate of dire warnings of future terrorism.

``I say 'Yes' to what American officials are saying ... that we are going to carry out attacks on America,'' he said.

He called the Sept. 11 attacks a ``great historic victory that broke the backs of the Americans, the strongest power in this world.'' He also referred to the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 strike against the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen.

Abu Ghaith, a former teacher and mosque preacher who was stripped of his Kuwaiti citizenship, also said al-Qaida was prepared for the U.S. campaign and that its military, security, economic and media network was unaffected.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Why was there a question about whether it was or was not legitimate?

Does that bear on whether Osama is still alive?

[Dog Gone]

There was a question whether it was a legitimate threat from al-Qaida, or simply a recording from some terrorist wannabe who liked to issue threats for fun.

If this story turns out to be accurate, it's actually rather serious. I was convinced by January that Osama was dead. For the first time since then, I'm not so sure.