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Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, in a videotape broadcast Friday on Al-Jazeera television, claims full responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and warns Americans that “your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al-Qaida. Your security is in your own hands.”

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White House press secretary Scott McClellan said U.S. intelligence analysts, who were reviewing the tape, believed that the message was authentic and recently shot.

U.S. officials told NBC News, however, that there was no plan to raise the terrorist threat level, currently at yellow, or “elevated,” because bin Laden makes no specific threat. A senior official said the main message appeared to be “I'm still here; I’m still standing.”

Neither the Qatar-based channel, which aired about one minute of excerpts from the five-minute tape, nor U.S. officials would say how they had received it.

‘We are free people’
In the tape, bin Laden — wearing traditional white robes, a turban and a tan cloak — reads from papers at a lectern against a plain brown background. Speaking quietly in an even voice, he tells the American people that he ordered the Sept. 11 attacks because “we are a free people” who wanted to “regain the freedom” of their nation.

“Do not play with our security, and spontaneously you will secure yourself,” he says, according to a translation by NBC News.

U.S. officials told The Associated Press that one part of their analysis would be to discern whether there were hidden messages or clues about a possible future attack. But they said it was too early to know that yet.

Bush was informed of the tape aboard Air Force One late Friday morning by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. He had no immediate reaction, but McClellan said that if there was anything “actionable” in the tape, “we will act.”

Jamie Rubin, senior foreign affairs adviser to the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, said he would not discuss what use the campaign might make of the tape. But he promised in an interview on MSNBC-TV that “if John Kerry is elected president, the American people can be reassured he would use every means at his disposal to defeat al-Qaida.”

Change of rhetoric
NBC’s Richard Engel reported that bin Laden spoke in a modern style of Arabic, in contrast to the flowery Quranic language he has used in previous messages. He appeared to be speaking in a fashion he thought would be better suited to this target audience, the American people.

Although he mentions Kerry, most of bin Laden’s message is in regard to Bush, who faces Kerry in next week’s presidential election. He accuses President Bush of “misleading” the American people for the three years since the Sept. 11 attacks.

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In no previous authenticated message — audio or video — had bin Laden explicitly stated that he ordered the 2001 attacks, which killed almost 3,000 people.

But in the new tape, he claims full responsibility. “We decided to destroy towers in America so they may taste what we have tasted,” he says, clearly referring to the World Trade Center.

In the course of his comments, bin Laden revealed just how patiently he awaited his opportunity to strike the West. He said he first vowed to destroy “the buildings of tyrants” after the devastating Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 — 19 years before he directed followers to fly four jetliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and an unknown third target.

“God knows that it had not occurred to our mind to attack the towers, but after our patience ran out and we saw the injustice and inflexibility of the American-Israeli alliance toward our people in Palestine and Lebanon, this came to my mind,” he says.

He said he and the lead hijacker on Sept. 11, Mohammad Atta, agreed to “execute the whole operation in 20 minutes.”

At one point, bin Laden ridicules Bush for reacting slowly to the 2001 attacks.

“We never thought that the high commander of the U.S. armies would leave 50,000 of his citizens in both towers to face the horrors by themselves when they most needed him because it seemed to distract his attention from listening to the girl telling him about her goat butting,” he says, referring to Bush’s decision to wait more than seven minutes after being informed of the attacks before leaving an elementary room classroom in Florida where a student was reading a story called “The Pet Goat.”

The story, bin Laden intimated, “was more important than paying attention to airplanes hitting the towers, which gave us three times the time to execute the operation, thank God.”

Fact file Osama bin Laden statements

Since Sept. 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden has issued 13 statements, either audio or video. Here, in reverse order, is a list of the statements, whether audio or video and when the U.S. intelligence community believes they were recorded:
Oct. 29, 2004 (Contemporaneous)
In a videotape broadcast on al-Jazeera, bin Laden warns Americans that "your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al-Qaida. Your security is in your own hands." He also claims full responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
April 15, 2004 (Contemporaneous)
In an audio tape message, bin Laden offers a truce to European countries if they leave the Middle East within 90 days, threatening that if they don't, al-Qaida will attack European targets.
Jan. 4, 2004 (Contemporaneous)
The al-Qaida leader said in an audio tape that Muslim and Arab leaders were jolted by Saddam's ouster since it showed that dictatorial regimes could be toppled by foreign forces.
Oct. 18, 2003
Al-Jazeera broadcasts two audiotapes said to be made by Osama bin Laden, vowing more suicide attacks inside and outside the United States and demanding the United States withdraw from Iraq. "We, God willing, will continue to fight you and will continue martyrdom operations."
Sept. 10, 2003 (Most likely shot in 2001)
Al-Jazeera airs a combined audio and videotape showing bin Laden walking down a mountain path with Ayman al Zawahiri, his chief lieutenant. U.S. officials noted that the audio from bin Laden did not make any references to current events, while Zawahiri did, leading them to believe that Zawahiri's comments were recent and bin Laden's had been recorded at some point in the past.
April 8, 2003 (Contemporaneous)
On the eve of the U.S. capturing Baghdad, bin Laden urges suicide attacks and calls on Muslims to rise up against Arab governments that support the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.
Feb. 16, 2003 (Contemporaneous)
Entitled, "Bin Laden's Sermon for the Feast of the Sacrifice," the statement as broadcast on al-Jazeera, criticizes President Bush and British Prime Minister Blair for planning the war on Iraq. In it, bin Laden states the plans do not end with Iraq: "The preparations underway at present for an attack upon Iraq are but one link in a chain of attacks -- [currently] in preparation -- on the countries of the region, including Syria, Iran, Egypt and Sudan."
Feb. 11, 2003 (Contemporaneous)
Bin Laden criticizes U.S. plans for war on Iraq, citing Baghdad's historical role as a capital of Islam. In the statement, carried on al-Jazeera, bin Laden states: "We are following up with great interest and extreme concern the crusaders' preparations for war to occupy a former capital of Islam."
Nov. 12, 2002 (Contemporaneous)
Bin Laden calls Bush the "pharaoh of this age" and lists recent attacks in a statement carried on al-Jazeera. Specifically, he notes: "The incidents that have taken place since the raids on New York and Washington up until now -- like the killing of Germans in Tunisia and the French in Karachi, the bombing of the giant French tanker in Yemen, the killing of marines in Failaka [in Kuwait] and the British and Australians in the Bali explosions, the recent operation in Moscow and some sporadic operations here and there -- are only reactions and reciprocal actions." It is the first bin Laden message that can be dated in nearly a year.
April 17-18, 2002 (Shot in Oct. 2001)
The "Riverside tape," believed shot in October 2001, is shown on Arabic language broadcasters MBC and al-Jazeera in slightly different versions. In this tape, bin Laden praises the impact the Sept. 11 attacks had on the U.S. economy.
Dec. 27, 2001 (Shot late Nov. 2001)
The "Gaunt Tape," so named because bin Laden is haggard and doesn't move his left arm, is believed to have been recorded around Nov. 19, 2001. In the tape, bin Laden refers to the U.S. bombing of a mosque in Khost "several days" earlier. The U.S. bombed a mosque in Khost on Nov. 16. Bin Laden does not move his left arm and his appearance is both gaunt and pale. Al-Jazeera airs the tape.
Nov. 3, 2001 (Shot late Oct./early Nov.)
Bin Laden, dressed in camouflage and armed with an AK-47, says in a tape aired by al-Jazeera that the war in Afghanistan is in a religious war. "The people of Afghanistan had nothing to do with this matter. The campaign, however, continues to unjustly annihilate the villagers and civilians, children, women and innocent people."
Oct. 7, 2001 (Shot in late Sept./early Oct.)
A threatening tape released at the start of the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan and shown on al-Jazeera. It is believed to have been shot in late September or early October. Also on tape are bin Laden spokesman Abu Ghaith, chief lieutenant Ayman al Zawahiri, and Mohammed Atef, bin Laden's military commander.

Source: NBC News • Print this

Bin Laden admits setbacks
U.S. officials told NBC News that in parts of the tape not aired by Al-Jazeera, bin Laden acknowledges that the recent Afghan elections were not a success for him because “they came off with minimal violence.” And he admits that “aggressive Pakistani operations” in South Waziristan, where he is believed to be hiding, have hurt his operations.

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rick Francona, a Middle East specialist and former military official at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, said the tape was surprising in that it appeared to demonstrate that bin Laden was in good health. Bin Laden’s condition has been the subject of intense speculation since the United States launched massive airstrikes in Afghanistan in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The last authenticated contemporaneous video message from bin Laden appeared in December 2001, when he discussed a U.S. attack on a mosque. U.S. officials told NBC News that all subsequent videos of bin Laden were believed to have been recorded around the time of the Sept. 11 attacks and broadcast much later.

The last audio message from bin Laden was on May 6, when he offered rewards in gold for the assassination of top U.S. and U.N. officials in Iraq. On Oct. 1, bin Laden’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, issued an audiotape calling on young Muslims to strike the United States and its allies.