Al-Jazeera broadcasts new bin Laden tape
Neither Bush nor Kerry can protect America, he says
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, in a videotape broadcast Friday on Al-Jazeera television, claims full responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and warns Americans that “your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al-Qaida. Your security is in your own hands.”
U.S. officials, who said the government had obtained the tape independently, told NBC News that the message was authentic. They said, however, that there was no plan to raise the terrorist threat level, currently at yellow, or “elevated,” because bin Laden makes no specific threat.
Neither the Qatar-based channel nor U.S. officials would say how they had received the tape.
In the tape, bin Laden — wearing traditional white robes, a turban and a tan cloak — reads from papers at a lectern against a plain brown background. Speaking quietly in an even voice, he tells the American people that he ordered the Sept. 11 attacks because “we are a free people” who wanted to “regain the freedom” of their nation.
“Do not play with our security, and spontaneously you will secure yourself,” he says, according to a translation by NBC News.
There was no official reaction from the U.S. government. The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said it would release a statement shortly.
Change of rhetoric
NBC’s Richard Engel reported that bin Laden spoke in a modern style of Arabic, in contrast to the flowery Quranic language he has used in previous messages. He appeared to be speaking in a fashion he thought would be better suited to this target audience, the American people.
Although he mentions Kerry, most of bin Laden’s message is in regard to Bush, who faces Kerry in next week’s presidential election. He accuses President Bush of “misleading” the American people for the three years since the Sept. 11 attacks and ridicules Bush for reacting slowly to those attacks. “I never thought that the supreme leader would leave 50,000 of his people in the two towers to face the terrifying events alone at the time they were in need for him,” bin Laden says. In no previous authenticated message — audio or video —
had bin Laden explicitly stated that he ordered the 2001 attacks, which killed almost 3,000 people. But in the new tape, he claims full responsibility. “We decided to destroy towers in America,” he says, clearly referring to the World Trade Center. In the course of his comments, bin Laden revealed just how patiently he awaited his opportunity to strike the West. He said he first vowed to destroy “the buildings of tyrants” after the devastating Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 — 19 years before he directed followers to fly four jetliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and an unknown third target. “God knows that it had not occurred to our mind to attack the towers, but after our patience ran out and we saw the injustice and inflexibility of the American-Israeli alliance toward our people in Palestine and Lebanon, this came to my mind,” he says.
Analyst: Tape made recently
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rick Francona, a Middle East specialist and former military official at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, said the tape appeared to have been made very recently. He noted that bin Laden refers to Kerry and to the possibility of election problems next week in Florida.
Francona, a foreign affairs analyst for MSNBC-TV, said the tape was surprising in that it appeared to demonstrate that bin Laden was in good health. Bin Laden’s condition has been the subject of intense speculation since the United States launched massive airstrikes in Afghanistan in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The last authenticated contemporaneous video message from bin Laden appeared in December 2001, when he discussed a U.S. attack on a mosque. U.S. officials said all subsequent videos of bin Laden were believed to have been recorded earlier and broadcast much later.
The last audio message from bin Laden was on April 15, when he offered a truce to European nations if they removed their troops from the Middle East within 90 days. On Oct. 1, bin Laden’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, issued an audiotape calling on young Muslims to strike the United States and its allies.
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Fact file Osama bin Laden statements
Since Sept. 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden has issued 12 statements, either audio or video. Here, in reverse order, is a list of the statements, whether audio or video and when the U.S. intelligence community believes they were recorded:
April 15, 2004 (Contemporaneous)
In an audio tape message, bin Laden offers a truce to European countries if they leave the Middle East within 90 days, threatening that if they don't, al-Qaida will attack European targets.
Jan. 4, 2004 (Contemporaneous)
The al-Qaida leader said in an audio tape that Muslim and Arab leaders were jolted by Saddam's ouster since it showed that dictatorial regimes could be toppled by foreign forces.
Oct. 18, 2003
Al-Jazeera broadcasts two audiotapes said to be made by Osama bin Laden, vowing more suicide attacks inside and outside the United States and demanding the United States withdraw from Iraq. "We, God willing, will continue to fight you and will continue martyrdom operations."
Sept. 10, 2003 (Most likely shot in 2001)
Al-Jazeera airs a combined audio and videotape showing bin Laden walking down a mountain path with Ayman al Zawahiri, his chief lieutenant. U.S. officials noted that the audio from bin Laden did not make any references to current events, while Zawahiri did, leading them to believe that Zawahiri's comments were recent and bin Laden's had been recorded at some point in the past.
April 8, 2003 (Contemporaneous)
On the eve of the U.S. capturing Baghdad, bin Laden urges suicide attacks and calls on Muslims to rise up against Arab governments that support the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.
Feb. 16, 2003 (Contemporaneous)
Entitled, "Bin Laden's Sermon for the Feast of the Sacrifice," the statement as broadcast on al-Jazeera, criticizes President Bush and British Prime Minister Blair for planning the war on Iraq. In it, bin Laden states the plans do not end with Iraq: "The preparations underway at present for an attack upon Iraq are but one link in a chain of attacks -- [currently] in preparation -- on the countries of the region, including Syria, Iran, Egypt and Sudan."
Feb. 11, 2003 (Contemporaneous)
Bin Laden criticizes U.S. plans for war on Iraq, citing Baghdad's historical role as a capital of Islam. In the statement, carried on al-Jazeera, bin Laden states: "We are following up with great interest and extreme concern the crusaders' preparations for war to occupy a former capital of Islam."
Nov. 12, 2002 (Contemporaneous)
Bin Laden calls Bush the "pharaoh of this age" and lists recent attacks in a statement carried on al-Jazeera. Specifically, he notes: "The incidents that have taken place since the raids on New York and Washington up until now -- like the killing of Germans in Tunisia and the French in Karachi, the bombing of the giant French tanker in Yemen, the killing of marines in Failaka [in Kuwait] and the British and Australians in the Bali explosions, the recent operation in Moscow and some sporadic operations here and there -- are only reactions and reciprocal actions." It is the first bin Laden message that can be dated in nearly a year.
April 17-18, 2002 (Shot in Oct. 2001)
The "Riverside tape," believed shot in October 2001, is shown on Arabic language broadcasters MBC and al-Jazeera in slightly different versions. In this tape, bin Laden praises the impact the Sept. 11 attacks had on the U.S. economy.
Dec. 27, 2001 (Shot late Nov. 2001)
The "Gaunt Tape," so named because bin Laden is haggard and doesn't move his left arm, is believed to have been recorded around Nov. 19, 2001. In the tape, bin Laden refers to the U.S. bombing of a mosque in Khost "several days" earlier. The U.S. bombed a mosque in Khost on Nov. 16. Bin Laden does not move his left arm and his appearance is both gaunt and pale. Al-Jazeera airs the tape.
Nov. 3, 2001 (Shot late Oct./early Nov.)
Bin Laden, dressed in camouflage and armed with an AK-47, says in a tape aired by al-Jazeera that the war in Afghanistan is in a religious war. "The people of Afghanistan had nothing to do with this matter. The campaign, however, continues to unjustly annihilate the villagers and civilians, children, women and innocent people."
Oct. 7, 2001 (Shot in late Sept./early Oct.)
A threatening tape released at the start of the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan and shown on al-Jazeera. It is believed to have been shot in late September or early October. Also on tape are bin Laden spokesman Abu Ghaith, chief lieutenant Ayman al Zawahiri
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Civilized Debate 
How do we know he isn't using the tape to signal his followers to attack America again! 
Bin Laden said we Americans are "in control" and can "prevent another Manhattan". I know he is just trying to scare us! He says Kerry is bad but Bush is worse! Maybe we will still yet be seeing an unwanted "October Surprise"......
we are here...just out of the fight zone 
How could he be safer than that?
