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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Bin Laden centre stage again |
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| Halima |
| 02/12/03 at 05:12:38 |
| Wednesday February 12, 07:25 AM Bin Laden centre stage again By Samia Nakhoul and Steve Holland DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden, blamed for the worst attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbour, has taken centre stage in the Iraq crisis with the release of a tape exhorting Muslims to fight the "allies of the devil". The United States, eager to bolster support for a possible war against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, portrayed the audio tape broadcast by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television channel on Tuesday as evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda were in cahoots. But the tape condemned Saddam as an infidel while saying it did not hurt that the interests of Muslims coincided with those of Iraq's government in "the war against the crusaders." The tape thrust bin Laden's al Qaeda network, blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people, into the middle of the showdown over Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction as serious divisions have emerged on the issue between Washington and three major powers -- France, Germany and Russia. NATO ambassadors are due to meet for a third day on Wednesday to overcome one of the most serious crises in the alliance's 54-year history after mounting pressure on France, Germany and Belgium to stop blocking allied plans to protect Turkey in case of war in Iraq. The European Union's security chief and former NATO secretary-general Javier Solana said on Wednesday he was confident the alliance would soon heal the damaging rift over its policy toward planning for a possible war with Iraq. Solana, the EU's security chief, told reporters after talks on North Korea in Seoul, the NATO split could be resolved by the time EU leaders meet in Brussels on Monday, although that was not certain. He said he was confident the problem would be solved because it was one of timing rather than substance. The broadcast of the bin Laden tape reinforced jitters over a feared new terror attack in the United States, where the Bush administration has advised Americans to keep tape and plastic sheeting available so they can seal off a "safe room" against radiation, deadly germs or chemical gas. U.S. officials said the tape was probably genuine, the strongest evidence so far that bin Laden survived the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan to drive out the Taliban and al-Qaeda. His whereabouts remain a mystery. President George W. Bush, whose avowed aim is to force Saddam from power, has called the possibility of his providing terror groups with biological, chemical or nuclear weapons oje of the main reasons for ensuring that Iraq is disarmed. Chief U.N. weapons inspectors, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, are due to brief the U.N. Security Council on Friday on their efforts to assess Iraq's arms programmes in an address Washington has described as "very important" in deciding whether to go to war. Bush, facing opposition to a war against Iraq from Paris, Berlin and Moscow, has said the September 11 attacks made it clear the United States had to launch preemptive action if necessary to defend itself. The bin Laden tape stressed "the importance of martyrdom (suicide) attacks ... (which) inflicted on America and Israel a disaster they have never experienced before." "We are following with great concern the preparations of the crusaders to launch war on the former capital of Muslims ... and to install a puppet government," it said. "Fight the allies of the devil. I remind you that victory comes from God alone." CALLS FOR POLITICAL UPHEAVAL The tape also urged Muslims to liberate themselves from "oppressive, unjust, apostate ruling governments, which in turn are enslaved by America. ... The most eligible for liberation are Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen." In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the tape corroborated U.S. charges that al Qaeda and the Iraqis were in contact and cooperating. "The secretary (Colin Powell) made clear that we thought they were bound by a common hatred. That is what brought them together and I think that's really what you did have bin Laden confirming today in this tape," Boucher told al-Jazeera. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the tape "underscores what the president and Secretary Powell have said about al Qaeda linking up with Iraq." Saddam, whose secular government is at odds with bin Laden's brand of militant Islam, has denied links to al Qaeda and rejects allegations he is concealing chemical or biological weapons. At the United Nations, France on Tuesday proposed expanding U.N. security units in Iraq as a way of bolstering inspections as an alternative to war. Taking the offensive against the United States and Britain, the four-page informal paper drafted by the French called for a tripling of the number of inspectors and security units, presumably U.N. guards, to ensure that a suspect site would remain "frozen." The United States has said time is running out for Iraq to heed Security Council Resolution 1441, passed in November, calling on it to detail all its illegal arms programs. Bush has made clear he will go to war without U.N. approval if he considers it necessary. Aircraft taking part in U.S.-British patrols attacked a battlefield missile system in southern Iraq on Tuesday in an unusual response to Iraqi threats against the air patrols, the U.S. military said. |
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