February 19, 2006
Bin Laden Vows Never to Be Captured Alive
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:56 p.m. ET

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Osama bin Laden promised never to be captured alive and declared the United States had resorted to the same ''barbaric'' tactics used by Saddam Hussein, according to an audiotape purportedly by the al-Qaida leader that was posted Monday on a militant Web site.

The tape appeared to be a complete version of one that was first broadcast Jan. 19 on Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channel, in which bin Laden offered the United States a long-term truce but also said his al-Qaida terror network would soon launch a fresh attack on American soil.

''I have sworn to only live free. Even if I find bitter the taste of death, I don't want to die humiliated or deceived,'' bin Laden said, in the 11-minute, 26-second tape.

In drawing the comparison to American military behavior in Iraq to that of Saddam, the speaker said:

''The jihad is continuing with strength, for Allah be all the credit, despite all the barbarity, the repressive steps taken by the American Army and its agents, to the extent that there is no longer any mentionable difference between this criminality and the criminality of Saddam.''

By using that language to describe Saddam, bin Laden appeared to be denying assertions by the Bush administration that the former Iraqi leader had ties to al-Qaida -- ties that were given as one rationale for invading Iraq.

Bin Laden also challenged Bush administration assertions that it was better to fight terrorists in Iraq than on U.S. soil.

''The war against America and its allies has not remained confined to Iraq as he (Bush) claims, but rather Iraq has become a point of attraction and recruitment of qualified forces,'' the speaker said.

''What's more, the mujahideen, by the grace of Allah, have been able to penetrate time after time all the security procedures undertaken by the oppressive countries of the alliance as evidence by what you have seen, in terms of bombings in the capital of the most important European states.''

The tape's release in January came days after a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan that targeted bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, and reportedly killed four leading al-Qaida figures, including possibly al-Zawahri's son-in-law. There was no mention of the attack on the segments that were broadcast.

In the full tape posted Monday, bin Laden engaged in renewed propaganda, mocking Bush's aircraft carrier declaration in April 2003 that major conflict in Iraq had ended.

''The Pentagon's figures indicate an increase in the number of your killed and injured in addition to the massive material losses, not to mention the collapse of troop morale and the increase of the suicide rates among them,'' the speaker said.

Speaking directly to the American people, he said:

''You can rescue whatever you can from this hell. The solution is in your hands, if their (U.S. troops') situation matters to you at all.''

The initial excerpts had been the first tape from the al-Qaida leader in more than a year -- the longest period without a message since the Sept. 11, 2001 suicide hijackings in the United States.

The CIA last month authenticated the voice on the initial recording as that of bin Laden, an agency official told The Associated Press at the time. The al-Qaida leader is believed to be hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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Associated Press reporter Omar Sinan contributed to this report.



Copyright 2006 The Associated Press

Bin Laden compares US "barbaric" acts to Saddam's
By Inal Ersan
Sun Feb 19, 6:47 PM ET

Osama bin Laden accused U.S. forces of "barbaric" acts in Iraq comparable to those committed by Saddam Hussein, according to an audio tape first broadcast in January and posted on the Internet in full on Monday.

"The (U.S.) criminality has gone as far as raping women and holding them hostage before their husbands ... as for the torture of men it has now come to the use of burning chemical acids and electric drills in their joints," he said in the tape posted with an English-language voice over.

"Despite all these barbaric methods ... the mujahideen are strengthening and increasing by the grace of Allah," he said.

The tape, whose authenticity could not be verified, was posted on the Internet by the al Qaeda media group al-Sahab.

In January, the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television aired parts of the tape, in which bin Laden said al Qaeda was preparing further attacks in the United States.

U.S. intelligence analysts then authenticated the tape as a message from bin Laden. It was the first bin Laden tape since 2004.

In the audio released on Monday, bin Laden said the insurgency in Iraq was gaining strength despite "barbaric and oppressive steps taken by the American army and its agents to the extent that there is no longer any mentionable difference between this criminality and the criminality of Saddam."

The tape was first broadcast by Al Jazeera before new images surfaced of Iraqi prisoner abuse by U.S. forces at Abu Ghraib prison in a 2004 scandal. The images showed sexual humiliation of prisoners and physical abuse.

U.S. officials have often accused Saddam of links to al Qaeda, one of the reasons of the U.S.-led war on Iraq which was chiefly based on allegations Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction.

Bin Laden's remarks appeared to disassociate his group from Saddam's regime.

He said Washington was trying to muffle any media outlet that reports the truth about the losses of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Commenting on British newspaper report in a November that U.S. President George W. Bush had mulled bombing Al Jazeera's head office, the Saudi-born militant called Bush the "butcher of freedom" and criticized the prominent Arab television and the leaders of its host country, Qatar.

"Recently it has surfaced in documents that the butcher of freedom in the world had resolved to bomb the head offices of Al Jazeera satellite channel in Qatar after he had bombed its offices in Kabul and Baghdad although it, as it stands, is the instrument of your (Americans) servants there (in Qatar)."

In 2001, the station's Kabul office was hit by U.S. bombs and in 2003 Al Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayyoub was killed in a U.S. strike on its Baghdad office. The United States has denied deliberately targeting the station.




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Bin Laden compares US "barbaric" crimes to Saddam’s Aljazeera.com
Osama bin Laden accused the US of the same “barbaric” acts that Saddam Hussein committed in Iraq, according to a purported audiotape by Al-Qaeda leader that was first broadcast last month and posted on the Internet in full on Monday, Reuters reported. "The (U.S.) criminality has gone as far as raping women and holding them hostage before their husbands ... as for the torture of men it has now come to the use of burning chemical acids and electric drills in their joints," the speaker said in the in the 11-minute, 26-second tape. But he added that “the jihad is continuing with strength, for Allah be all the credit, despite all the barbarity, the repressive steps taken by the American Army and its agents, to the extent that there is no longer any mentionable difference between this criminality and the criminality of Saddam." By using this language to describe Saddam, bin Laden appeared to dissociate his group from the former Iraqi leader, and deny U.S. claims that Saddam had ties to al-Qaeda, which was one of the reasons the Bush Administration used to justify Iraq war, that was chiefly based on allegations that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The tape was originally broadcast by an Arabic satellite channel in January, days after a U.S. air strike in Pakistan killed more than 18 civilians. Its full version comes after the release of new pictures of prisoner abuses by U.S. forces at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib jail. In the tape posted Monday, bin Laden also promised never to be captured alive. "I have sworn to only live free. Even if I find bitter the taste of death, I don't want to die humiliated or deceived," he said. The speaker also challenged Bush administration assertions that it was better to fight terrorists in Iraq than on U.S. soil.
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