Purported bin Laden 'truce' is rejected
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-15 23:43

A man identifying himself as Osama bin Laden offered a "truce" to European countries that do not attack Muslims, saying it would begin when their soldiers leave Islamic nations, according to a recording broadcast Thursday on Arab satellite networks.

Osama bin Laden speaks to journalists in this 1998 photo taken in Khost, Afghanistan. In a recording broadcast on Arab satellite networks Thursday April 15, 2004, a man who identified himself as Osama bin Laden offered a ``truce'' to European countries that do not attack Muslims, saying it would begin when their soldiers leave Islamic nations. [AP/file]

The tape, which ran in full at more than seven minutes, also vowed revenge against America for the Israeli assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin and denounced the United States as using the Iraq war for corporate profiteering.

"I announce a truce with the European countries that do not attack Muslim countries," the taped message said as the stations showed an old, still picture of al-Qaida leader.

The message said "the door to a truce is open for three months," but the time frame could be extended. "The truce will begin when the last soldier leaves our countries," the speaker said without elaborating.

A CIA spokesman said the agency was reviewing the tape to determine its authenticity.

Dia'a Rashwan, a Cairo expert on Islamic militants, said the voice sounded like bin Laden, although it deviated from his old pattern of labeling Europeans as "the Crusader-Jewish alliance."

The tape made clear overtures to Europeans, calling them "our neighbors north of the Mediterranean," and tried to drive a wedge between Europe and the United States.

Several audio and videotapes of al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, have been released in recent months, but Thursday's tape was the first purportedly from bin Laden since September. Then, a videotape showed bin Laden climbing down a craggy mountainside with al-Zawahri.

Ayman Gaballah, editor of Al-Arabiya, said only that the pan-Arab television network received the tape from "our sources." He would not say if the tape was received at its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates or in a bureau elsewhere, such as Pakistan or Afghanistan.

"From the voice, it seems it is bin Laden, but we are not experts to confirm it," Gaballah said.

Al-Jazeera, a Qatar-based satellite station, also aired the tape in full. Its chief editor wasn't available for comment.

Sen. Joseph Biden, senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on NBC's "Today" show that bin Laden was "trying to separate us from the Europeans, and Europeans from the U.S. It's an example of how opportunistic he is."

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., expressed skepticism about the offer made on the tape.

"You cannot negotiate with terrorists, especially someone like Osama bin Laden," Shelby told "Today."

In London, the Foreign Office ruled out any deal with al-Qaida.

"Their attacks are against the very idea of co-existence," the Foreign Office said. "The right response is to continue to confront terrorism, not give in to its demands."

A British opposition spokesman said the purported truce offered was a sign that the al-Qaida network is rattled.

"It is obviously an attempt by al-Qaida or the associates of al-Qaida, to try and drive a wedge between the coalition," said Michael Ancram, foreign affairs spokesman for the opposition Conservative Party.

"They are frightened about the effectiveness of the coalition," Ancram said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in Rome that "it's unthinkable that we may open a negotiation with bin Laden, everybody understands this."

Germany is a leading contributor to the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. It opposed the Iraq war but is now helping train Iraqi police.

A German government spokesman said: "There can be no negotiations with terrorists and serious criminals like Osama bin Laden."

The voice on the tape defended al-Qaida's methods.

"They say that we kill for the sake of killing, but reality shows that they lie," the speaker said.

Russians, he said, were only killed after attacking Afghanistan in the 1980s and Chechnya, Europeans after invading Iraq and Afghanistan and the Americans in New York after "supporting the Jews in Palestine and their invasion of the Arabian Peninsula."

"Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood," the message added. "This is a difficult but easy equation."

This truce, the message said, was to deny "the warmongers" further opportunities and because polls have shown that "most of the European peoples want reconciliation" with the Islamic world.

Germany rejected that notion.

"The international community must pursue the fight against international terrorism together," a government spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity. "Germany will continue to make its contribution."

In a reference to terror attacks on the United States and Spain, the voice on the tape said that "what happened on Sept. 11 and March 11 was your goods delivered back to you."

"Security is a need for all humans and we could not let you have a monopoly on it for yourselves," the voice added. "People who are aware would not let their politicians jeopardize their security."

At the start of the recording, the voice called this a "message to our neighbors north of the Mediterranean, including a reconciliation initiative in response to the recent positive developments that have appeared."

It did not give any specifics, but the March 11 attacks in Madrid that killed 191 people and increasing violence in Iraq have prompted debate in Europe and Asia about keeping troops there.

Spain's outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's government, which strongly backed the U.S.-led war in Iraq despite popular and political opposition, was ousted in general elections three days after the attacks in Spain.

Incoming Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has pledged to withdraw Spain's 1,300 troops from Iraq by June 30 unless the United Nations takes control.

However, his incoming government rejected the offer of a truce with al-Qaida. Spain's incoming foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, speaking at his nation's parliament, said: "What we want is peace, democracy and freedom. We don't have to listen to or answer" the tape.

Rashwan, the expert on Islamic militants, said the speaker appeared to be focusing on persuading the European public to pressure their governments to "isolate the American administration even from its European allies."

Bin Laden, he said, also may want to show he is still alive so he can try to sink U.S. President Bush's re-election bid in November.

The message also vowed revenge for Israel's killing of Yassin last month, which provoked international outrage. "We vow before God to take revenge for him from America for this, God willing," it said.

The message said that American policy ignores the "real problem," which is "the occupation of all of Palestine."