Can ANYONE post an actual source for that? I thought it was pure conjecture.
Here's one.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
June 24, 2002, Monday
SECTION: Pg. 01
LENGTH: 388 words
HEADLINE: Prepare for new terror, al-Qa'eda warns US
BYLINE: By Toby Helm in Berlin and David Rennie in Washington
BODY:
AL-QA'EDA'S high command told America yesterday to "fasten its seat belt" and prepare for more terrorist attacks in one of its most defiant and confident public statements since September 11.
Speaking on a videotape broadcast by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite channel, an al-Qa'eda front-line spokesman insisted that Osama bin Laden was "in good health" and would soon appear on television to prove it.
After months of doubt, Suleiman Abu Ghaith also confirmed that al-Qa'eda had been responsible for an attack on a synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba in April which killed 19 people including 14 German tourists. The video broadcast came as the head of the US Senate intelligence committee admitted that America believed Osama bin Laden was still alive.
Senator Bob Graham told Fox Television yesterday: "Our best intelligence estimate continues to be that he is alive and probably someplace in those tribal areas on the western side of Pakistan."
The senator added his voice to recent reports that al-Qa'eda is regrouping after the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"What we have seen is a disturbing pattern of the reformulation of al-Qa'eda and their renewed willingness and capability to conduct terrorist attacks."
In the video, Abu Ghaith, warning that its war against western interests had only just begun, said: "America must prepare itself and fasten its seat belt. We will arrive from where they are not expecting. Yes, we will undertake attacks, but at the right time, in the place we choose and in the manner we want." New attacks against US and Jewish targets would come within "months".
About 98 per cent of al-Qa'eda's leaders, including bin Laden's deputy Ayman Zawahri and the Taliban leader Mullar Omar, were alive, unhurt and active, he said.
"So long as America persists in its unjust policy toward Muslims, we will go on hitting it everywhere . . . and we have the means to carry out our threats."
The attack on Djerba, caused when a lorry carrying gas exploded, had been carried out by an al-Qa'eda member "who couldn't bear to see his brothers in Palestine being killed while Jews walk around enjoying themselves," said Abu Ghaith.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned that July 4 festivities might be a target for terrorist activity.