A raspy voice believed to be Osama bin Laden's urged Iraqis to carry out suicide attacks against Americans and draw US troops into combat in Iraqi cities. US officials said the call proves the world must fear Saddam Hussein's ties to the al-Qaeda terror network.
The appeal was made in a voice tape aired Tuesday by the al-Jazeera satellite television station throughout the Arab world and believed by US officials to be authentic. It was broadcast as US officials warned of devastating attacks within the US and the Persian Gulf, where US forces are massing for a possible attack against Iraq.
"This nexus between terrorists and states that are developing weapons of mass destruction can no longer be looked away from and ignored," US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate Budget Committee.
Even though US officials point to ties between al-Qaeda and Iraq, the speaker on the tape referred to Saddam Hussein and his associates as "infidels." But he added that it was all right for his followers to temporarily cooperate with them.
Some analysts wondered at bin Laden's motives for issuing a statement supporting Iraq, given many countries' skepticism of US allegations of Iraqi-al-Qaeda links. Others worried the recording would inflame Muslims against US troops in the Persian Gulf region.
On the tape, broadcast on the first day of the Muslim holiday Id al-Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice), the speaker advised Iraqis how to fight the Americans, based on al-Qaeda's experience in Afghanistan.
"We stress the importance of martyrdom operations against the enemy, these attacks that have scared Americans and Israelis like never before," the man identified as bin Laden said.
"We advise about the importance of drawing the enemy into long, close and exhausting fighting, taking advantage of camouflaged positions in plains, farms, mountains and cities," he said.
The speaker urged the Iraqis to draw the Americans into urban combat, saying "the thing that the enemy fears the most is to fight a city war."
US military planners fear Saddam might ring Baghdad with his best troops of the elite Republican Guard and draw US forces into bloody street fighting where they could not use their high-tech weapons for fear of causing massive civilian casualties.
The speaker also told Iraqis not to worry about American smart bombs and laser-guided weapons because "they work on only the clear, obvious targets." He encouraged Iraqis to use deception techniques to neutralize American technological superiority.
Some Middle East experts have questioned ties between bin Laden's Islamic extremists and Saddam's government, which nominally adheres to a Pan-Arabic socialistic doctrine called Baathism.
In the tape, the speaker said socialist "infidels" led Saddam's government. But he said that it was acceptable for Muslims to join with Iraqi socialists because in these circumstances their interests "intersect in fighting against the Crusaders," or Christians.
US counterterrorism officials in Washington said the audio message was probably a real recording of bin Laden, and that a technical analysis was planned to authenticate it. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was unclear when the recording was made but said it was probably recent, given all the attention the speaker gave to Iraq.
Yasser Thabet, a broadcast editor at al-Jazeera, said the station received the tape by the same channels as previous bin Laden statements, but he did not give details.
Bin Laden's previous statements have not gone nearly as far in expressing solidarity with Iraq, counterterrorism officials in Washington said.
In Washington, CIA Director George Tenet said intelligence information suggests al-Qaeda may launch attacks as early as this week in both the US and on the Arabian peninsula.
"The intelligence is not idle chatter on the part of terrorists and their associates," Tenet told Congress. "It is the most specific we have seen, and it is consistent with both our knowledge of al-Qaeda's doctrine and our knowledge of plots this network -- and particularly its senior leadership -- has been working on for years."
Tenet said the information suggests the attack may involve a "dirty bomb" -- a weapon that spreads radioactive material over a wide area -- or chemical or poison weapons.
The speaker urged other Muslims not to cooperate with the US in a showdown against Iraq. He criticized Arab governments that support UN efforts to rid Iraq of alleged weapons of mass destruction.
"Anyone who helps America, from the Iraqi hypocrites [opposition] or Arab rulers ... whoever fights with them or offers them bases or administrative assistance, or any kind of support or help, even if only with words, to kill Muslims in Iraq, should know that he is an apostate," the speaker said.
The speaker also called on Muslims to rise up and "break free from the slavery of these tyrannic and apostate regimes, which are enslaved by America." He singled out Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the tape shows that Saddam and bin Laden are "bound by a common hatred" of America and its Arab allies.
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