Al-Qaida leader threatens new U.S. attacks

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Feb 25, 2004 | by Neil MacFarquhar New York Times News Service

CAIRO, Egypt -- A senior leader of al-Qaida threatened further attacks against the United States and lambasted France for banning Islamic head scarves on two audiotapes broadcast by separate Arab satellite channels on Tuesday.

Analysts at the CIA said that the recordings appeared to have been made by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahri, the top lieutenant to Osama bin Laden. "After conducting a technical analysis, the CIA assesses that the voice on the recordings is probably that of Zawahri," a CIA official said.

The tapes are of relatively recent vintage: On one al-Zawahri mocked remarks from President Bush's State of the Union speech in January and on the other he referred to December developments in the scarf debate.

"We remind Bush that he did not crush two-thirds of al-Qaida," al- Zawahri said in a recording broadcast on al-Jazeera. "On the contrary, thanks be to God, al-Qaida remains on the battleground of the holy war, raising the banner of Islam in the face of the Zionist- Crusader campaign against the Islamic community."

In his State of the Union address, Bush said almost two-thirds of the known leadership of al-Qaida had been captured or killed.

In the recording on al-Jazeera, al-Zawahri expressed wonder that the leader of a superpower could deliver a speech so full of lies.

"Bush, fortify your defenses and intensify your security measures," he said, "because the Muslim nation, which sent brigades to New York and Washington, has decided to send you one brigade after another, carrying death and seeking paradise."

In Washington, the director of central intelligence, George J. Tenet, said in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that al-Qaida retained the ability to carry out attacks.

"Even catastrophic attacks on the scale of 9/11 remain within al- Qaida's reach," Tenet said, according to a transcript from the Federal News Service. "Make no mistake, these plots are hatched abroad, but they target U.S. soil or that of our allies."

Al-Zawahri, an Egyptian surgeon, repeated the charge that the campaign against terrorism was really a war on Islam and condemned Islamic leaders cooperating with it.

"Bush appoints corrupt leaders and protects them," he said on the al-Jazeera tape. "A glance at the Islamic world from Morocco to Indonesia will reveal those U.S.-backed leaders."

The second tape, broadcast on the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya network, singled out France for its pending ban on the wearing of Islamic scarves by girls in state schools.

Al-Zawahri said the ban "is new evidence of the extent of the Crusaders' hatred for Muslims, even if they brag about democracy, freedom and human rights."

"France, the country of liberty," he went on, "defends only the liberty of nudity, debauchery and decay, while fighting chastity and modesty."