New Bin Laden Tape
Al-Jazeera, which is based in Qatar, said the new tape is from bin Laden. CNN could not immediately confirm the tape’s authenticity, but analysts said the voice sounds like bin Laden’s.
A U.S. intelligence official said technical analysis of the tape is under way.
The speaker on the tape says “the opposition to the Hamas government is proof of the crusade against Muslims.”
The speaker repeats his description of a “crusade” against Muslims, pointing to activities in other areas such as Chechnya, Somalia and Sudan, where bin Laden lived in the mid-’90s before being expelled by the Sudanese government.
Bin Laden and other al Qaeda figures use the term “crusaders” to refer to Christians.
The remarks about the halting of funds suggest the tape is relatively recent. The United States and some other Western nations have officially stopped contributions to the Palestinian government since Hamas assumed power March 30. Humanitarian aid is donated through nongovernmental organizations.
“This is a crusader-Zionist war,” said the speaker who sounded like the Saudi-born militant in the tape aired on Al Jazeera television.
“And they (Western leaders) do not want a truce unless it is from our side only … they insist on continuing their crusader campaign against our nation and to loot our wealth,” bin Laden said.
Cross-posted from: Stop The ACLU
April 24th, 2006 at 8:03 am
Purported Bin Laden Tape Aired On Arab TV Network
Osama bin Laden issued ominous new threats in an audiotape broadcast Sunday, purportedly saying the