REUTERS: DUBAI - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden warned the American people over their government's close ties with Israel in an apparently new audio tape posted on an Islamist website on Monday.
"The time has come for you to liberate yourselves from fear and the ideological terrorism of neo-conservatives and the Israeli lobby," Bin Laden's latest tape said.
"The reason for our dispute with you is your support for your ally Israel, occupying our land in Palestine."
The message, entitled "A statement to the American people," was around 11 minutes long and was posted a few days after the eighth anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.
Reuters was not immediately able to verify its authenticity but the website often is used by supporters of al Qaeda.
In the tape, the al Qaeda leader said there had been no real change in American policy because U.S. President Barack Obama had retained people like U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates from the administration of former President George W. Bush.
"If you think about your situation well, you will know that the White House is occupied by pressure groups," Bin Laden said.
"Rather than fighting to liberate Iraq -- as Bush claimed -- it (the White House) should have been liberated."
The website had said earlier this month it would soon carry a "present" to Muslims from bin Laden on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan. >>> Reporting by Andrew Hammond; editing by Michael Roddy | Monday, September 14, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: A new audio tape from Osama bin Laden warning the American people over their government's close ties to Israel has been released by al- Qaeda's media branch, according to a US-based terror monitoring group.
The terror group's As-Sahab Media released a video featuring a still image of bin Laden and a 10 minute long audio statement entitled "A statement to the American people", said the organisation IntelCenter.
The release came two days after the United States marked the eighth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people.
On the audiotape, bin Laden said that among "some other injustices," US support for Israel motivated Al-Qaeda to launch the 9/11 attacks.
He also stated that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were driven by the pro-Israeli lobby in the White House and corporate interests, not Islamic militants.
"If you think about your situation well, you will know that the White House is occupied by pressure groups," he said, according to IntelCenter.
"Rather than fighting to liberate Iraq - as Bush claimed - it (the White House) should have been liberated."
He also said that Mr Obama's retention of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others from the Bush administration was confirmation of the president's weakness. >>> | Monday, September 14, 2009
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: CAIRO -- Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden described President Barack Obama as "powerless" to stop the war in Afghanistan, and Americans' inability to grasp why the Sept. 11 attacks occurred has "cost you a lot without any result whatsoever."
The remarks by the terrorist leader were released two days after the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that he ordered. Mr. bin Laden typically addresses the American people in a message timed around the Sept. 11 anniversary.
Mr. bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding in the mountainous region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, said current White House officials are merely following the strategy of former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney to "promote the previous policies of fear to market the interest of big companies." "Rather than fighting to liberate Iraq -- as Bush claimed -- it [the White House] should have been liberated," he said.
When Mr. Obama became president and retained many of the Bush administration's military leaders, such as Defense Secretary Robert Gates, "reasonable people knew that Obama is a powerless man who will not be able to end the war as he promised," Mr. bin Laden said.
"If you end the war, so to it," Mr. bin Laden said. "But if it is otherwise, all we will do is continue the war of attrition against you on all possible axes." SITE Intelligence Group, a terrorist-monitoring firm, provided a translation of the tape, which was also translated by The Associated Press.
The al Qaeda leader sought to drive home key grievances often voiced in the Arab and Muslim world, where Washington's policies are seen as blatantly favoring Israel at the expense of the rights of Palestinians and other Arabs.
"We have demonstrated and stated many times, for more than two-and-a-half-decades, that the cause of our disagreement with you is your support to your Israeli allies who occupy our land of Palestine," Mr. bin Laden said. >>> Associated Press | Monday, September 14, 2009
