Likely bin Laden tape offers truce to Europe
From From the Wolf Blitzer Reports staff in Atlanta:
ATLANTA, Georgia -- The CIA thinks a newly released audiotape -- aired by Arabic language TV network Al-Arabiya -- was likely made by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the past few weeks.
The voice on the tape specifically mentions the March 11 Madrid train bombings as well as the death of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was killed in an Israeli targeted helicopter attack in Gaza City March 22.
"It is enough to witness the event that shocked the world, the killing of the elderly, wheelchair-bound Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, God have mercy on him, and we pledge to God to take revenge on America, God willing," the speaker on the tape says.
The tape offers a truce to European nations if they pull their troops out of Muslim countries, and sets a three-month deadline starting April 15.
A CIA official said the remarks appear to be not only "an attempt to drive a wedge" between Europe and the United States, but also a "propaganda ploy" intended to "bolster the al Qaeda rank and file."
"Whoever rejects this truce and wants war, we are its [war's] sons and whoever want this truce, here we bring it," the voice says.
