Bin Laden Says 9/11 Motivated by Injustice, Stand Repeat

The new tape, aired on Friday, October 30, by Aljazeera news channel, drew similar reactions from incumbent US President George Bush and his presidential contender Senator John Kerry, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

Apparently sitting or standing at a table against a neutral brown background and looking in good health, Bin Laden directly addressed the American people about motivation behind the bloody attacks, which he claimed, and avoiding others.

"Oh American people, my talk to you is about the best way to avoid another Manhattan; about the war, its causes and results," he said, accusing Bush of misleading the American people about the reasons of the 9/11 attacks.

"Despite the fact that we are into the fourth year after September 11, Bush is still misleading you and hiding the real reason from you, which means that the reasons to repeat what happened remain.

"We fought you because we are free and do not accept injustice," he said.

Al-Qaeda leader recalled he first got the idea of the 9/11 attacks after seeing destroyed tower blocks in Lebanon following the Israeli invasion of the Arab country in 1982 which, he said, were green lighted by the US.

"As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me to punish the unjust the same way … to destroy towers in America so that it can taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women."

Traded Security

Bin Laden said the US continues to kill innocent Muslims, including children in Iraq, and consider that a legitimate act.

He maintained that Washington dropped millions of tones of bombs on Iraqi children with the only purpose of replacing an old agent with a new one to plunder Iraqi oil wealth.

Just four days before the presidential elections, Al-Qaeda leader told the Americans that their security is not in the hands of either Bush or his Democrat challenger John Kerry but depends on US policy.

"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry, Bush or Al-Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands. Any presidential mandate which does not play havoc with our security would automatically ensure its own security."

In an audiotape broadcast by Arab satellite stations on Thursday, April 15, Bin Laden offered truce to European countries if they stop attacking Muslims.

Negligence

Opening his salvos at Bush, Bin Laden charged the incumbent president of delegation of duty during the bloody September 11 attacks, saying he was too slow to react to the first attack on the World Trade Center.

"We had agreed with Mohammad Atta [the 9/11 hijackers’ leader], God rest his soul, that he finishes all operations in 20 minutes before Bush and his administration take notice," he recalled.

"It never occurred to us that the commander in chief of the US armed forces would leave 50,000 of his citizens in the two towers to face these horrors alone at a time when they were most in need of him," Bin Laden said.

"He [Bush] reckoned that it was more important to preoccupy himself with the talk of the little girl about her goat… than with the planes and their strike on the skyscrapers, giving us three times the time required to carry out the operations, thanks be to God."

The comment referred to the famous moment when Bush carried on reading a children’s story to school children after being discreetly informed by his aides about the airborne strikes on the World Trade Center in New York.

Bush, Kerry United

Bush and Kerry were united in their response to the new tape of Washington’s most, vowing to stand against the threat he poses.

"Let me make this very clear. America will not be intimidated or influenced by an enemy of our country," Bush told reporters.

"I am sure Senator Kerry agrees with this.

"I also want to say to the American people that we are at war with these terrorists. And I am confident that we will prevail."

Kerry made an equally blunt response, vowing to destroy Al-Qaeda leader if he is elected president.

"In response to this tape of Osama bin Laden, let me just make it clear, crystal clear, as Americans we are absolutely united in our determination to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden and the terrorists."

"They are barbarians and I will stop at absolutely nothing to hunt down, capture or kill the terrorists wherever they are, whatever it takes," Kerry told reporters.