Four days before the United States presidential election, a new videotape of Osama bin Laden surfaced on Friday, with the al-Qaeda leader admitting responsibility for the first time for the September 11 2001 attacks, and threatening new strikes against the US.
If genuine — and US intelligence officials on Friday night indicated the man on the video was indeed the al-Qaeda leader — the tape broadcast by al-Jazeera television is an audacious attempt by Bin Laden to leave his imprint on the US electoral process.
Although the White House said on Friday night there is no immediate change in the US terror alert level, there are also fears that it could be a coded warning to al-Qaeda operatives for a fresh attack. Warnings of a spectacular strike on US soil in the run-up to the vote were in circulation earlier this year.
Bin Laden played directly on such fears in Friday’s video, which offered the first glimpse of him in more than a year. It was also his first direct appeal to the American people, and the al-Qaeda leader warned they could well face a repetition of the 9/11 attacks.
”Despite entering the fourth year after September 11, Bush is still deceiving you and hiding the truth from you, and therefore the reasons are still there to repeat what happened,” he said.
Although he is the most hunted man on earth, Bin Laden made it clear that he has had time to keep close watch on public debate in the US — or at least is familiar with the accusation that the attacks would have been far less deadly if US President George Bush had been swift to act.
He also suggested that the idea for the September 11 attacks stretched back as far as two decades to the Israeli aerial bombardment of tall buildings in Beirut in 1982.
Friday’s videotape exploded on to the campaign trail just as the two candidates were poised to deliver their closing arguments to the American electorate.
The message ensured that the war on terror remains the defining issue in the most fiercely contested election in recent memory.
Bush and his Democratic challenger, John Kerry, have been scathing in attacking each other’s credentials on national security. After launching his campaign with images of the World Trade Centre in flames, Bush went on to accuse Kerry of lacking the resolve to lead the fight against al-Qaeda.
The Democratic challenger accuses his opponent of compromising the hunt for al-Qaeda because of his preoccupation with Saddam Hussein.
But both leaders declined to rise to Bin Laden’s bait — at least in the short term.
”Let me make this very clear: Americans will not be intimidated, or influenced by an enemy of our country,” Bush said. ”We are at war with these terrorists and I am confident that we will prevail.”
The president refused to comment on Bin Laden’s claim that he had been astounded by Bush’s decision, after being told of the attacks, to remain in a Florida classroom reading a children’s book about a pet goat.
In the video, Bin Laden said: ”It never occurred to us that he, the commander in chief of the country, would leave 50 000 citizens in the two towers to face those horrors alone, because he thought listening to a child discussing her goats was more important.”
Kerry, who has assailed Bush every day this week for taking his eye off al-Qaeda by going to war in Iraq, also refused to be drawn into Bin Laden’s game.
”All of us in the country are completely united,” he said. ”We are all united hunting down and capturing or killing those who conduct that raid. We always knew it was Osama bin Laden.”
But while both candidates took the high road on Friday, it seemed evident the tape will have an impact on the presidential race.
Although Bin Laden’s intervention appears calculated to hurt Bush’s re-election chances, reminding American voters that the US president has failed to catch the al-Qaeda leader, most commentators thought the ploy would rebound against Kerry.
Bush has consistently outscored Kerry on the security question in opinion polls, and the re-emergence of Bin Laden could persuade Americans they need to send a strong man to the White House next Tuesday.
The tape also served to confound hopes that Bin Laden was dead, or at least incapacitated, following reports that he had been seriously wounded or was gravely ill with kidney disease.
Instead, the Osama bin Laden who surfaced on Friday was very much alive, and apparently fit, dressed in a golden cloak and white turban, and sitting at a desk in front of a plain backdrop.
He gave no hint that he is on the run, speaking with apparent composure, in his first appearance on film in two years. It was unclear where the tape was recorded, although Bin Laden is believed to be in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It was also unclear when it was made — although Bin Laden made reference to the US death toll in Iraq reaching the 1 000 mark, suggesting the tape had a fairly recent provenance.
Al-Jazeera received the tape on Friday, but did not say how. The US State Department said it urged the government of Qatar, where the station is based, to discourage it from broadcasting the message.
Friday night’s message differed from previous audio and video tapes released by Bin Laden, with a first direct appeal to the American people.
But the message was chilling: neither Bush nor Kerry can guarantee their safety, he said.
”Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al-Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands,” he said.
”To the US people, my talk is to you about the best way to avoid another disaster,” he said. ”I tell you: security is an important element of human life and free people do not give up their security.” — Guardian Unlimited Â