Man thought to be bin Laden urges Iraqi suicide attacks

DOHA, Qatar -- A raspy voice believed to be Osama bin Laden's urged Iraqis to carry out suicide attacks against Americans and draw U.S. troops into combat in Iraqi cities. U.S. officials said the call broadcast Tuesday proves the world must fear Saddam Hussein's ties to the al-Qaida terror network.

The appeal was made in a voice tape aired by the Al-Jazeera satellite television station throughout the Arab world.

"This nexus between terrorists and states that are developing weapons of mass destruction can no longer be looked away from and ignored," Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate Budget Committee.

Some analysts wondered at bin Laden's motive for issuing a statement supporting Iraq, given many countries' skepticism of U.S. allegations of Iraqi-al-Qaida links. Others worried the recording would inflame Muslims against U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf region.

On the tape, broadcast on the first day of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, the speaker advised Iraqis how to fight the Americans, based on al-Qaida'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."

In the tape, the speaker said Iraq was governed by socialist infidels, including Saddam. But he said that it was acceptable for Muslims to fight on behalf of Iraqi "socialists" because "in these circumstances" their interests "intersect in fighting against the Crusaders," or Christians.

Probably recent recording

U.S. 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 voice on the tape sounded like bin Laden's and the station assumed it was authentic. He said the tape was received by the same channels as previous bin Laden statements, but he did not give details.

Bin Laden often used Al-Jazeera to broadcast statements during the Afghanistan war until the elusive terrorist leader vanished after the battle at Tora Bora in December 2001.

Al-Jazeera is not widely seen in Iraq because few Iraqis are permitted to have satellite dishes. There was no immediate comment from the Iraqi government, which has repeatedly denied links with al-Qaida.

Counterterrorism officials have said they are concerned Islamic extremists will go to Iraq to conduct suicide or other attacks against advancing U.S. forces. But the officials said they don't yet have evidence extremists are planning such attacks in any numbers.

Bin Laden's previous statements have not gone nearly as far in expressing solidarity with Iraq, they said.

On the tape, the speaker urged other Muslims not to cooperate with the United States in a showdown against Iraq. He criticized Arab governments that support U.N. 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 is enslaved by America," singling out Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.