Purported Bin Laden Tape Is Months Old, Al Jazeera Says
An audiotape purportedly made by Osama bin Laden was broadcast Saturday by satellite channel Al Arabiya, but the CIA said the recording was not new and may have aired months ago on Al Jazeera.
The Qatar-based network said it broadcast the same material Oct. 18.
On the tape, a voice claiming to be that of Bin Laden praised attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, saying the Americans were waging a “new crusade against the Islamic world.”
In an expanded broadcast later, the voice said that there have been people calling for “peaceful solutions and democracy” in Iraq, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Egypt, Jordan and Yemen. “This is illegal and against God’s book,” he said, referring to the Koran.
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