By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

CAIRO, Egypt - In an audiotaped message aired across the Arab world Tuesday, a voice purported to be that of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) praised terrorist strikes in Bali and Moscow and threatened Western nations over any attack on Iraq.

If bin Laden's voice is authenticated, his references to recent events would be the clearest indication the terrorist mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks survived U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan (news - web sites) last year.

The speaker on the tape broadcast on Al-Jazeera television referred to the Oct. 12 Bali bombing, the killing last month of a Marine in Kuwait, the bombing of a French oil tanker last month off Yemen and the Chechen hostage taking in Moscow, saying the attacks were "undertaken by sons who are zealous in the defense of their religion."

He said those attacks and others were "only a reaction in response to what (U.S. President George W.) Bush, the pharaoh of the age, is doing by killing our sons in Iraq and what America's ally Israel is doing, bombarding houses with women and old people and children inside with American planes."

"Our people in Palestine are being killed, are being subjected to the worse kind of suffering for almost a century now," the speaker said. "If we defend our people in Palestine the world is disturbed and allied against Muslims under the banner of combating terrorism."

The speaker then castigated U.S. allies that have joined the war against terrorism, specifically Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Australia.

After listing those countries, he warned: "If you don't like looking at your dead...so remember our dead, including the children in Iraq."

U.S. intelligence officials were evaluating the tape to verify if the voice was bin Laden's, according to officials in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity.

American officials have not verified bin Laden's whereabouts this year. The last certain evidence bin Laden was alive was a videotape of him having dinner with some of his deputies, which is believed to have been filmed on Nov. 9, 2001.

Audio recordings are easier to make than videotapes which could reveal whether bin Laden is injured, has significantly altered his looks, or is in a vulnerable location that could be given away in a video appearance.

In September, the Al-Jazeera network aired voice recordings of bin Laden and top al-Qaida operatives. The CIA (news - web sites) authenticated bin Laden's voice then, but officials said the recordings probably weren't made recently.

Those statements came out around the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (news - web sites).

Experts say bin Laden's al-Qaida network is on a renewed public relations campaign aimed at keeping itself in the public eye and associated with events, such as a possible war in Iraq, which could turn the Arab public against the United States

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2002

Answers

[Mansoor Ijaz was just on Fox and he believes this tape may be legit. He says it fits the pattern of how bin Laden likes to communicate, i.e., use an audio tape to get his followers and others interested then, after the next attack, distribute a video taking credit to show he really is alive. Mansoor believes if BL is alive, he will be in the "wild" areas on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border.]

Bin Laden Believed Alive

CAIRO, Egypt, Nov. 12, 2002

Experts say bin Laden's al Qaeda network is on a renewed public relations campaign aimed at keeping itself in the public eye.

(CBS) U.S. officials say a preliminary analysis by intelligence analysts has concluded that a recent recording by Osama bin Laden tape is authentic, CBS has learned. The analysts say the tape is a clear attempt by bin Laden to prove to the world he is still alive.

In an audio-taped message aired across the Arab world Tuesday, a voice purported to be that of bin Laden praised terrorist strikes in Bali and Moscow and warned U.S. allies against following the "oppresive American government" in the war against terror.

U.S. analysts believe it's no coincidence that on the day Saddam Hussein was making up his mind on whether to go to war or not, bin Laden dramatically reminded the U.S. and its allies they still have him to contend with, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart.

If bin Laden's voice is definitively authenticated, his references to recent events would be the clearest indication the terrorist mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks survived U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan last year.

In a rambling statement, the speaker on the tape broadcast on Al-Jazeera television refered to events which have happened since "the battles of New York and Washington," including the Oct. 12 Bali bombings, the killing last month of a Marine in Kuwait, the bombing of a French oil tanker last month off Yemen and the Chechen hostage taking in Moscow.

He said the attacks were "undertaken by sons who are zealous in the defense of their religion," and that they were "only a reaction in response to what (President) Bush, the pharaoh of the age, is doing by killing our sons in Iraq and what America's ally Israel is doing, bombarding houses with women and old people and children inside with American planes."

"Our people in Palestine are being killed, are being subjected to the worse kind of suffering for almost a century now," the speaker said. "If we defend our people in Palestine the world is disturbed and allied against Muslims under the banner of combating terrorism."

The speaker then castigated U.S. allies that have joined the war against terrorism, specifically Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Australia.

After listing those countries, he warned: "If you don't like looking at your dead ... so remember our dead, including the children in Iraq."

"What business do your governments have to ally themselves with the gang of criminality in the White House against Muslims? Don't your governments know that the White House gang is the biggest serial killers in this age?"

The speaker said "we had warned Australia before it participated in Afghanistan" because of its support for East Timor's campaign for independence from Muslim Indonesia.

"It ignored the warning until it woke up to the sounds of explosions in Bali and then its government, falsely claimed that they were not targeted," the speaker said.

At the White House, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said "We don't know whether he's alive or dead. But if he's alive, we know he's on the run and this war on terrorism is about more than any one person."

"We've seen the reports and we're looking into it," McClellan said.

Britain, a staunch U.S. ally, took the warnings seriously. Ports along the English channel are already on a high state of alert following intelligence reports that al Qaeda operatives could be planning to smuggle a truck packed with explosives onto a ferry, reports CBS News Foreign Correspondent Tom Fenton.

British ports have been holding emergency drills to prepare for the worst. But security experts warned that terrorists may strike where they are least expected.

"There is a credible threat of a terrorist incident in the UK. The key is for people not to become preoccupied with one particular type of terror threat, say anthrax," said disaster planner Richard Fenning.

American officials have not verified bin Laden's whereabouts this year. The last certain evidence bin Laden was alive was a videotape of him having dinner with some of his deputies, which is believed to have been filmed on Nov. 9, 2001.

Audio recordings are easier to make than videotapes which could reveal whether bin Laden is injured, has significantly altered his looks, or is in a vulnerable location that could be given away in a video appearance.

In September, the Al-Jazeera network aired voice recordings of bin Laden and top al Qaeda operatives. The CIA authenticated bin Laden's voice then, but officials said the recordings probably weren't made recently.

Those statements came out around the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the start of the war in Afghanistan.

Al Qaeda operatives thought to be alive because of their recent recordings include bin Laden's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, and his spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith.

In the al-Zawahri recording, obtained by Associated Press Television News in early October, he spoke about Iraq, accused Washington of seeking to subjugate the Arab world on behalf of Israel — America's strongest supporter in the region — and tried to assure followers that bin Laden was alive and well.

Experts say bin Laden's al Qaeda network is on a renewed public relations campaign aimed at keeping itself in the public eye and associated with events, such as a possible war in Iraq, which could turn the Arab public against the United States.

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2002

MSNBC reports "senior official" confirming voice is that of bin Laden. Shit.

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2002

Nov. 12 — The voice on an audiotape praising recent terrorist attacks is that of Osama bin Laden, NBC News was told Tuesday. “It’s him,” two senior U.S. officials in different agencies said even as the CIA analyzed the recording. If confirmed as bin Laden’s voice, the tape would be the first evidence in a year that the elusive leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network is alive.

ON THE TAPE, played Tuesday on the Middle East TV network Al-Jazeera, the speaker lauds the recent bombing on the Indonesian island of Bali and the taking of hostages by Chechen rebels in Moscow, and threatens Western nations over any attack on Iraq.

NBC’s Robert Windrem reported that the CIA was still analyzing the tape recording but that two senior U.S. officials were certain it was bin Laden. A third official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the technical analysis “will come limping in overnight,” but added: “It sure sounds like (bin Laden); we believe it could well be him and there is no apparent reason to suggest that it’s not him.” Jamal Kashoggi, editor in chief of Arab News, a Saudi English-language daily newspaper, has interviewed bin Laden several times for several hours and told NBC News that, in his opinion, there was “no question about it.”

If the tape is genuine, officials said it would have serious implications. In addition to the proof that bin Laden is alive, it could also be a signal to al-Qaida operatives to launch new terrorist attacks. Officials were mystified about why Bin Laden would break with his tradition of making videotaped appearances. But they told Windrem there could be several reasons, including that bin Laden’s appearance indicates he was wounded in the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan, or that he has changed his appearance for security reasons.

The speaker on the tape also referred to the killing last month of a U.S. Marine on Failaka Island in Kuwait and the bombing of a French oil tanker last month off Yemen, saying they “are only a reaction undertaken by sons who are zealous in the defense of their religion.”

He said the attacks were in response to “what Bush is doing, killing our sons, our old people and children by American planes in Palestine.”

Indonesian investigators have blamed the Bali blast of Oct. 12 on the Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, which has links to al-Qaida. More than 190 people, mostly Australians, were killed in the nightclub bombings in one of Asia’s most frequented tourist spots. ASSUMED TO BE ALIVE

Bin Laden has used Al-Jazeera in the past as a conduit for his messages. The station’s head of newsgathering, Omar Hisham, told NBC that he believed the tape was authentic.

U.S. intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States has always worked under the assumption that bin Laden is alive. Until now, all tapes, either video or audio, released since last November, cannot be dated beyond late November or early December of 2001, around the time of the most intensive U.S. air attacks on al-Qaida in Afghanistan. The most recent Bin Laden audio tape, released a few weeks ago, was purported to be a recent message from the terrorist leader. The voice on that tape has been authenticated as Bin Laden’s, but officials say there is no conclusive evidence as to when it was recorded since it does not refer to any specific events. Earlier on Tuesday — before the release of the alleged audiotape — Gen. Tommy Franks said he’s assumed that bin Laden was alive given that he’s not seen any evidence to the contrary. “If he’s alive, we’ll certainly get him,” Franks said. “This I can tell you — he’s having a bad year.”

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2002

If he will marry Helen Thomas we can withdraw. slowly. he has to film them consumating their marriage first, though.

Oh yeah, she must wear a burka after consummating.

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2002