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.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS