- DUBAI (Reuters) - Osama bin
Laden issued a new videotaped statement saying the Afghan people were not
to blame for the Sept. 11 attacks and accusing the U.N. of crimes against
Muslims by approving the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.
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- The world's most wanted man appeared in footage broadcast
by the Arabic satellite television channel al-Jazeera on Saturday, in his
third public statement since the attacks on New York and Washington.
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- The Saudi-born guerrilla leader, accused of mounting
those attacks and the target of a U.S. bombing campaign intended to flush
him out of hiding in Afghanistan, described the U.N. as a tool of crime
against Muslims and said Arab leaders who cooperated with the world body
were infidels.
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- "The United Nations is a crime tool," the Saudi-born
dissident said in a recorded statement. "We (Muslims) are being slaughtered
every day and it (the U.N.) does not move."
-
- U.N. special representative Lakhdar Brahimi met Pakistani
and Afghan leaders this week and was to visit Iran next to discuss how
a new Afghan government might replace the ruling Taliban, bin Laden's protectors.
-
- The governments of Muslim states bordering Afghanistan
plan to meet again with U.S., Chinese and Russian officials later this
month for further talks on the question.
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- "Those who claim to be Arab leaders and are still
(cooperating) with the United Nations are infidels," said bin Laden.
He appeared on the footage wearing traditional headdress and a military
camouflage jacket, and with an automatic rifle propped at his side against
a brown wall or screen behind him.
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- "Today without any evidence the United Nations is
pedaling resolutions in support of America... against the weak who just
emerged from a massive war by the Soviet Union," he said.
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- "The people of Afghanistan have nothing to do with
this matter (the attacks on the United States)," said bin Laden, without
saying who was to blame. "But the campaign continues annihilating
villagers, women and children without a right."
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- U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan indicated early last
month that existing U.N. resolutions gave Washington the right to proceed
with a military strike against those responsible for the attacks on U.S.
cities that killed thousands.
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- There was no indication as to when the statement was
recorded, but bin Laden's remarks suggest it was after the October 7 start
of the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.
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- Bin Laden blamed the U.N. for the creation of the state
of Israel, by approving a resolution that "surrendered the land of
Islam for the Jews" in 1947.
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- The channel broadcast parts of the statements and said
it would air more from 1:00 p.m. EST.
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- http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20011103_102.html
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