Author: Julian Borger in Washington
and Rory McCarthy in Islamabad
Publication: The Guardian, UK
Date: November 14, 2002
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,839587,00.html
Introduction: Analysts fear new
recording means big al-Qaida attack on the way
The hoarse, breathless voice of
Osama bin Laden knocked the White House back on the defensive yesterday
at a time when it is trying to focus national attention on a looming confrontation
with Iraq.
The taped threat to Washington and
its allies, which US officials confirmed was almost certain to be authentic,
punctured growing hopes in the Bush administration that the al-Qaida leader
had been killed during the war in Afghanistan.
A sombre President Bush told journalists
that American experts were still studying the tape, but he added: "We need
to take these messages very seriously, and we will." Conceding that the
manhunt for Bin Laden was going "slowly" he promised Americans: "We'll
chase these people down one at a time. It doesn't matter how long it takes,
we'll find them and bring them to justice."
But with the al-Qaida leader still
apparently at large, and amid heightened apprehension over the threat of
a spectacular new attack on a western target, the tape gave fresh momentum
to criticism of the administration's bellicose policy on Iraq. "It goes
back to the unfinished business this country has in the fight against terrorism.
The invasion of Iraq - there is no evidence of links between Iraq and al-Qaida
- is a distraction from the ongoing, unfinished fight with al-Qaida," argued
Katrina van den Heuvel, editor of the liberal weekly, the Nation.
The tape, broadcast by the Qatari
satellite channel, al-Jazeera, features the voice of an Arabic speaker
who revels in a series of recent terrorist attacks across the world and
promises more killing. The speaker identifies several western countries
starting with Britain, which he says are allied with "the criminal gang
in the White House". From its references to recent events including the
Bali bombing and the Chechen hostage siege in Moscow, US analysts said
the recording appeared to have been made in the past 17 days and showed
no signs of having been manipulated.
An al-Jazeera journalist in Pakistan,
Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan, said yesterday he had received a telephone call on
Tuesday from an unidentified man who asked to meet him the same night at
a prearranged spot in Islamabad.
Mr Zaidan said the man's face was
half covered, but he recognised him as being the same man who had given
him another tape purported to be of Bin Laden's voice two months ago. That
tape was also broadcast but, because it contained no recent time references,
did not cause a political storm. But only days after it surfaced, the French
freighter, Limburg, was attacked off the coast of Yemen. The bombing of
an Indonesian tourist resort in Bali came less than 10 days later.
Most terrorism experts said the
new tape could augur new, even more devastating attacks, in the near future.
"It is time that we get even," the voice warns in the new recording. "You
will be killed just as you kill and you will be bombed just as you bomb."
Yasser el-Serri, an Islamist based in London who is wanted by Washington
on suspicion of funding al-Qaida, said he was convinced the voice was genuine.
"I am certain that it was the voice of Bin Laden, the same tone and style
that are impossible to fabricate," he said.
George Michael, a translator with
the US diplomatic language services, who has worked on Bin Laden recordings
in the past, said he believed the voice was genuine and that the shaky
tone indicated Bin Laden was probably ill.
His sentences appeared shorter than
in previous speeches and were pronounced as if he was having difficulty
speaking, he said. There have long been rumours that Bin Laden suffers
kidney problems. The hoarse voice may indicate he is receiving medical
treatment, which may explain why there have been audio but no video recordings
of him in recent months.
Tuesday's statement came the day
before the anniversary of the fall of Kabul. Last month a recording appeared
the day before the anniversary of the start of the US bombing campaign
in Afghanistan and a similar recording emerged just before the anniversary
of the September 11 attacks.
If Bin Laden is still alive most
experts agree that he cannot have moved far from his bases in the remoter
districts of Afghanistan.
US intelligence agents say their
last definitive information on his location was last December during the
attack on the mountains of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan. They believe
Bin Laden was heard rallying his fighters over the radio. Some men who
were holed up in the freezing, snow-covered mountains suggested he was
slightly injured at Tora Bora, perhaps receiving wounds to his left arm.
But from that point on the trail
went cold. Mountain passes from Tora Bora lead across into Pakistan's tribal
areas, a vast, lawless territory running along the Afghan border. The barren,
mountainous terrain appears to offer a limitless supply of hideouts. Many
among the Pashtun tribes on the border are strongly sympathetic to Bin
Laden and bear a deep animosity towards the US.
One US defence official said yesterday
the latest statement was merely an attempt to boost morale among rank and
file al-Qaida figures. Others are more worried. Last week the secretary
general of Interpol, Richard Noble, said he believed Bin Laden was still
alive. Intelligence assessments concluded that al-Qaida was preparing a
new and major operation, "with attacks targeting not just the US but several
countries at the same time", he told the French Le Figaro newspaper.
In hindsight analysts have noted
that Bin Laden's statements in the months before the September 11 attacks
signalled that a new terror operation was in preparation. Many now fear
this latest message carries a similarly deadly threat.
