On Thursday European governments derided an apparent offer from Osama bin Laden to call a truce in al-Qaeda activity "north of the Mediterranean sea" if states pulled their troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan within three months.
The CIA said last night that the taped statement was likely to be the voice of the fugitive leader and that the message "appears to be intended to drive a wedge between Europe and the US ... and it's a propaganda ploy to bolster the morale of its followers."
US Secretary of State Colin Powell later confirmed that the tape did appear to come from Osama bin Laden.
Asked in an interview on Polish public television whether the voice on the tape was that of the al-Qaeda leader, Powell replied, "Yes, the information I have is that it is the voice of Osama bin Laden."
In the recording, bin Laden goes out of his way to distinguish Europeans from the "White House gang" which it accused of pursuing a war in the interests of war profiteers like the "Halliburton company, its sisters and daughters."
If the tape is authentic, bin Laden is still alive -- the statement refers to recent events -- despite an intensifying US manhunt. The statement described the March 11 Madrid bombing as retaliation for Spanish participation in the US-led military coalition. Similar threats in the past have been followed by attacks.
"Bin Laden's words have consequences. It's not like it's a lot of rhetoric that nobody is paying attention to," said Peter Bergen, a terrorism expert who has written a book on al-Qaeda, Holy War, Inc.
European politicians Thursday unanimously dismissed any notion of negotiations with al-Qaeda. The British foreign secretary Jack Straw said, "One has to treat such proposals with the contempt they deserve.
"This is a murderous organization which seeks impossible objectives by the most violent of means and has said ... that whilst we love life they love death. It is yet another bare-faced attempt to divide the international community," Straw said.
French President Jacques Chirac ruled out any negotiations with terrorists as did the new socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said a peace deal with bin Laden would be "unthinkable."
Germany also reacted with disdain.
"There can be no negotiations with terrorists and serious criminals," a government spokesman said.
The ceasefire offer addressed Europeans as "our neighbors north of the Mediterranean" and was, the statement claimed, "in response to the positive interaction shown by recent events and opinion polls, which indicate that most European peoples want peace.
"The door of reconciliation is open for three months from the date of announcing this statement," the taped broadcast said. "For those who reject reconciliation and want war, we are ready," the tape said.
The statement vowed vengeance for Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, proving it was made since March 22, when the Palestinian Hamas leader was killed by Israeli forces. It was bin Laden's eighth taped declaration since the Afghan invasion made him a fugitive.
A similarly threatening tape released last October singled out Britain, Italy, Spain, Japan, Poland and Australia as targets. Within weeks, the British consulate and HSBC bank in Istanbul were bombed, 26 people were killed in an attack on Italian troops in Nassiriya, seven Spanish intelligence officers were killed in an ambush south of Iraq, two Japanese diplomats were targeted in Tikrit and the first Polish soldier was killed in Iraq.
Analysts say it is difficult to gauge whether the statements represent specific instructions to al-Qaeda members or are intended to inspire loosely-affiliated groups.
"Stop shedding our blood so as to preserve your blood," the statement warned.
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