- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A
U.S. intelligence analysis has concluded that an audio recording broadcast
last week was almost certainly the voice of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
and the tape was genuine, U.S. officials said on Monday.
-
- The audiotape broadcast on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera
television channel praised attacks that took place in October, showing
the speaker was alive as recently as late last month.
-
- It was the hardest evidence that the United States has
had since December 2001 that bin Laden was alive.
-
- "Our intelligence experts do believe that the tape
is genuine. It cannot be stated with 100 percent certainty. It is clear
that the tape was made in the last several weeks," White House spokesman
Scott McClellan said.
-
- "It's a reminder that we are at war on terrorism.
It's a reminder that we need to continue doing everything we can to go
after these terrorist networks and their leaders wherever they are and
we will," McClellan told reporters.
-
- The CIA and National Security Agency, which eavesdrops
on communications worldwide, have been analyzing the broadcast of the tape,
which was of shaky quality because it apparently was recorded over the
telephone.
-
- "At this point there is no evidence to indicate,
and no reason to believe, that the tape was manufactured or altered,"
a U.S. intelligence official said.
-
- The release of the audiotape focused attention on the
threat still posed by al Qaeda, which operates around the world, despite
the greater attention being given in Washington in recent months to the
threat posed by Iraq.
-
- It appeared to show that despite more than a year of
efforts to catch him, the man President Bush said was wanted "dead
or alive" remained on the loose and able to get his fiercely anti-American
message out.
-
- HUNT FOR BIN LADEN
-
- U.S. forces have been hunting for bin Laden mainly along
the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and the United States has offered a $25
million reward for information leading to his location.
-
- The United States has vowed to destroy al Qaeda, which
it says was behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on America that killed about
3,000 people.
-
- "The analysis (of the tape) consisted of comprehensive
examination by very experienced linguists and translators as well as highly
sophisticated technical reviews of the tape by experts," the intelligence
official said. Intelligence agencies will continue to review the tape recording
"and the circumstances surrounding it" for additional clues,
he said.
-
- But he said there was nothing that could be gleaned from
the recording about bin Laden's location.
-
- The audiotape has contributed to heightened concerns
that al Qaeda may be planning another strike.
-
- U.S. intelligence agencies have picked up an increased
level of communications by al Qaeda operatives, and the FBI last week said
the network may favor "spectacular attacks" that result in mass
casualties.
-
- The audio recording praises the Oct. 12 Bali bombings,
the killing of a U.S. Marine in Kuwait, the bombing of a French oil tanker
off the coast of Yemen and the Chechen hostage-taking in Moscow, and says
the attacks were retaliatory.
-
- U.S. allies -- specifically Britain, France, Germany,
Italy, Canada and Australia -- are warned against siding with the United
States.
|
