- (AFP) - The White House bluntly dismissed newly broadcast
videotaped remarks by suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden as
nothing but "terrorist propaganda."
"This is nothing more than the same kind of terrorist propaganda we've
heard before," spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters here, where
US President George W. Bush is spending part of the holidays on his "Prairie
Chapel" ranch.
Washington has blamed the Saudi-born militant and his al-Qaeda network
for the September 11 terrorist strikes that killed some 3,000 people at
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Bush himself has repeatedly said he hopes the world's most wanted man will
be caught "dead or alive."
"Our views on bin Laden are well known," a US State Department
official who declined to be named said earlier, after excerpts of the recording
appeared on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite television and US networks.
A Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday the Defense Department did not have
a comment on the recording, which al-Jazeera said it planned to broadcast
in its entirety at around 1830 GMT Thursday.
A US official who requested anonymity said that the Bush administration
stood by its previous request that US networks not broadcast bin Laden's
recordings unedited and unreviewed.
"Those views remain unchanged," the official said.
The recording shows bin Laden, clad in combat attire, a Kalashnikov assault
rifle propped up beside him, accusing the West of "loathing Islam"
and calling the September 11 attacks "blessed" without openly
claiming credit for them.
Bin Laden declares he wants to review "the fierce crusade against
Islam, two months after it was launched," suggesting that the tape
was recorded around December 7.
The US-led military operation targeting Afghanistan's Taliban regime, which
harbored bin Laden, began on October 7.
"The latest events have proved important truths," said bin Laden.
"It has become clear that the West in general and America in particular
have an unspeakable hatred for Islam."
Bin Laden also says the attacks were motivated by Washington's support
for Israel and charges that US air strikes have driven many Afghans from
their homes and claimed civilian casualties.
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