Osama bin Laden promised never to be captured alive and declared
the US had resorted to the same "barbaric" tactics used by Saddam
Hussein, according to an audiotape purportedly by the al-Qaida
leader 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. He also said US actions in Iraq were comparable to the
actions of the ousted Iraqi leader.
The tape's release in January came days after a US airstrike in
Pakistan that was targeting 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.
It was 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.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies February 20, 2006)
