Bin Laden says US is vulnerable

Bin Laden says US is vulnerable
By Stephen Fidler in London
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: September 7 2007 23:52 | Last updated: September 7 2007 23:52


A videotape addressed to the American people apparently recorded in recent months by Osama bin Laden on Friday appeared on the internet, criticising Democrats for not stopping the war in Iraq, attacking the White House for not observing the Kyoto accord and suggesting the US could soon suffer the fate of the Soviet Union.

The tape, evidently issued to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, refers to the observation “a few days ago” of the 62nd anniversary of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – in August.

In a tirade against capitalism, the speaker mentions the leaders of the west – George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown, references to the new French president and the new British prime minister.

If the al-Qaeda leader is the author, it would be his first such appearance since October 2004, when he issued a videotape ahead of the US presidential election. His proclamations since then have been by audiotape.

The tape contains no explicit threat to Americans, though it describes two possible solutions for the Iraq war. “The first is from our side, and it is to continue to escalate the killing and fighting against you...And the second solution is from your side.”

It questions why the victory of the Democrats in last November’s congressional elections had failed to stop the war, suggesting the reason was that “those with real power and influence are those with the most capital” and that big corporations were profiting from the war, just as they had in Vietnam.

It says that President Bush claims to be working for freedom in Iraq with Nouri al-Maliki, the Shia prime minister, but “is in fact working with the leaders of one sect against another sect, in the belief that this will quickly decide the war in his favour”.

According to webcasts of the tape, Mr Bin Laden appears older than in the previous videotape made in 2004, but his beard is shorter and the grey has been dyed.

US intelligence was yesterday investigating the tape, which appeared likely to confirm that the al-Qaeda leader is still alive, contrary to periodic speculation.