DUBAI, Jan 19: The United States flatly rejected an offer of ‘long-term truce’ made hours before by Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in an audiotape aired by Al-Jazeera TV on Thursday. The tape marks the first time that Osama has been heard in more than a year, his silence adding to speculations about the fate of the man behind the 9/11 attacks.
Osama threatened new attacks against the US in the audiotape, but he also offered the American people a conditional ‘long-term truce’.
As Washington rejected the offer, CIA analysts concluded that the voice on the audiotape was indeed Osama’s.
“Following a technical analysis... the CIA assesses that it is voice of Osama bin Laden,” said the official, who asked not to be identified.
Addressing American people, Osama said: “The delay in similar attacks is not because of the failure to penetrate security measures taken ... These operations are being prepared and you will see them in your heartland when they are ready.”
“Read history ... We are a people that seeks revenge ... until we avenge as (we did) on September 11, God willing.
“We have no objection to offering you a long-term truce based on fair conditions that we will adhere to, because we are a nation that has been forbidden by God to backstab or lie.
“The truce would offer the two parties peace and stability to build Iraq and Afghanistan which were destroyed by the war. There is nothing shameful in (finding) a solution,” he said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan rejected the offer.
“We do not negotiate with terrorists. We put them out of business,” he said.
“If there is any actionable intelligence (on the tape), we will act on it,” he told reporters.
The US administration has traditionally been cautious about reacting to such tapes before the veracity is confirmed.
The Saudi-born militant had not been heard of since a Dec 27, 2004 audiotape in which he anointed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq’s most wanted man, as Al Qaeda’s leader in the war-torn country.
Osama’s last video appearance was on Dec 16, 2004 when he also called on his fighters to strike Gulf oil supplies and warned Saudi leaders they risked a popular uprising.
On Thursday, Qatar-based Al-Jazeera broadcast three extracts from the poor-quality audiotape lasting just a few minutes. The newsreader said the tape dated back to the Islamic month of Ziqa’ad, which corresponds to December 2005.
“The war on America and its allies is no longer restricted to Iraq and Afghanistan ... The Mujahideen have been able to infiltrate all tyrannic measures taken by coalition forces,” the voice said.
“The explosions you saw in the most important European partners in this coalition testify to that,” it said in an apparent reference to deadly attacks in London last July and Madrid in March 2004.
“In his (President George W. Bush’s) comments on opinion polls showing that the majority of you (Americans) would like to see troops withdrawn from Iraq, he objected, saying withdrawing troops would send the wrong message to the enemies.”
The Al Qaeda leader’s previous period of silence had been the longest since the Sept 11 attacks although there have been several audio or videotapes broadcast by Al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri, seen as the network’s ideological leader.
In December, Al-Jazeera aired a videotape it said dated back to September showing Zawahiri claiming that Osama was still alive and leading jihad against the West.
“Al Qaeda for holy war is still, thanks to God, a base for jihad. Its prince Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, still leads the jihad,” said Zawahiri.
US officials believe that Osama, who has a $25million bounty on his head, and other key Al Qaeda militants have been sheltering somewhere along the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.—AFP
