'Bin Laden' offers Europe truce
 

'Bin Laden' offers Europe truce

Two Arab TV channels have broadcast an audiotape said to be from Osama Bin Laden in which he offers Europe a truce if it "stops attacking Muslims".
But the speaker in the tape, aired by al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera satellite channels, said the offer would not be extended to the US.

The person on the tape also vowed to avenge Israel's killing of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

The CIA says analysis suggests the voice is likely to be Bin Laden's.


Attacks 'payment'

The voice on the tape said that "the door is open" for about three months to forge a truce, although this could be extended.

The truce would begin when "the last soldier" leaves "our countries", it added.

However, Spain, Britain, Germany and the European Commission have all rejected such a move, with EC President Romano Prodi saying there was "no possibility for negotiation under [a] terrorist threat".

The tape also refers to the 11 March bombings in the Spanish capital, Madrid, and the events of 11 September 2001.

It said the attacks were payment for US and Spanish actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories.

"What happened on 11 September and 11 March are your goods returned to you, so that you know security is a necessity for all," the voice said.

"Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood."

Spain has been a prominent member of the US-led coalition in Iraq, although its new prime minister has said Spanish troops could be withdrawn if the situation in Iraq does not improve.

BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall says the timing of the tape's release - if it is Osama Bin Laden - is significant, emerging shortly after US President George W Bush gave a major news conference defending US policies on Iraq and met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Washington.

The tape, she says, could be a propaganda attempt to counter what the US has said about events in the Middle East and Iraq.

It may also be attempting to exploit divisions between European nations and the US and drive a wedge between both sides at a time when tensions on both issues are very high, our correspondent says.

The speaker used the Arabic phrase "mubadarat sulh", which can be translated as "reconciliation initiative" rather than "peace".

But talk of such an initiative is unlikely to lead nations into withdrawing troops from Iraq, our correspondent adds.

Earlier tapes

The tape also criticised US policy for ignoring the "real problem" which is "the occupation of all of Palestine".

It said the death of Sheikh Yassin, spiritual leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, would be avenged.

"We vow before God to take revenge for him from America for this, God willing," it said.

Sheikh Yassin was killed in an Israeli missile attack in March in the Gaza Strip.

The tape also condemned the US-led occupation of Iraq as a money-making scheme for companies making weapons or aiding reconstruction efforts - specifically naming the American firm Halliburton.

Several tapes purporting to be from Osama Bin Laden have surfaced since the 11 September attacks - which the US has blamed on his al-Qaeda network.

The most recent, broadcast in January by al-Jazeera, condemned the occupation of Iraq and attacked Arab nations which supported the war.

The CIA later said that analysis indicated the voice on the January tape was that of Osama Bin Laden.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/3627775.stm

US sounds warning on N Korea

The US Vice President, Dick Cheney, has warned that North Korea could spread its nuclear technology to terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda.
Mr Cheney called on Beijing to continue its efforts to resolve the nuclear impasse with Pyongyang.

He described the issue as "one of the most serious problems in the region".

Mr Cheney reportedly gave Chinese officials fresh new evidence about North Korea's nuclear programmes, according to a US official.

"Time is not necessarily on our side," he told university students in Shanghai on the final day of his visit to China.

Mr Cheney said he was worried about a possible nuclear arms race in Asia if North Korea's nuclear programmes were not halted.

"Because of the Pyongyang regime's past history of irresponsibility and deceit, the removal of all its nuclear capabilities is absolutely essential to the peace and stability of North East Asia and the world," he said.

Mr Cheney brought to China new evidence which could end Chinese doubts about whether Pyongyang has a highly enriched uranium programme, a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday.

It is not clear what this evidence is, but the move comes amid US reports that Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist who admitted exporting nuclear technology to North Korea, reportedly told his interrogators that he saw three nuclear devices at a secret underground plant during a trip to the North five years ago.


Nuclear arms race

Mr Cheney also said he feared North Korea could provide nuclear technology to other groups.

"We know that there are terrorist organisations out there like al-Qaeda, that have sought to acquire these kinds of weapons in the past," he said on Thursday.

According to the BBC correspondent in Shanghai, Francis Markus, Mr Cheney portrayed the resolution of the nuclear issue as vital in the war against terror, and linked it to Washington's efforts to reshape the Middle East and Afghanistan.

He expressed gratitude for Beijing's leading role in organising talks aimed at encouraging North Korea to give up its nuclear programme.

China has proved a crucial player in dialogue with Pyongyang, having hosted two rounds of six-nation talks in Beijing.

Taiwan was also on the agenda during Mr Cheney's visit.

During talks on Wednesday in Beijing, President Hu Jintao urged Mr Cheney to "oppose Taiwan independence" and "avoid sending the wrong signals" to Taiwan's authorities by selling them arms.

Mr Cheney said the US did not support Taiwanese independence, but he defended Washington's obligation to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

The other topic to dominate Mr Cheney's visit was trade.

He reiterated Washington's concerns about the trade imbalance between the two countries, saying that Beijing had a responsibility to lower trade barriers, protect intellectual property rights and allow the Chinese currency to fluctuate.

He said that growing economic freedoms in China could not be separated from political freedoms.

Mr Cheney has now left China for South Korea, on the final leg of a week-long tour of Asia.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/3625939.stm

Straw dismisses Bin Laden 'truce'

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says an apparent offer of a truce for Europe from Osama Bin Laden should be treated with the "contempt" it deserves.
A tape said to be of Bin Laden has been broadcast on Arab TV offering Europe a truce if it "stops attacking Muslims".

"This is a murderous organisation which seeks impossible objectives by the most violent of means," Mr Straw told reporters in London.

"It's yet another bare-faced attempt to divide the international community."

Business as usual

Mr Straw made the comments after a meeting with the Polish foreign minister, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, who said of the "truce" offer: "It would be a big, big mistake if people buy that".

The Foreign Office says it is "impossible" to confirm whether the tape recording aired on Arab satellite TV stations was the fugitive terror chief behind the 11 September attacks on the US.

But the American CIA says it is "likely" the new tape is genuine.

Mr Straw said: "One has to treat such claims, proposals, by al-Qaeda with the contempt which they deserve."

He said the organisation has said in terms "that whilst we love life, they love death".

Al-Qaeda's attempts to divide the international community "cannot and will not succeed", he said.

"Everybody knows that there's only one side in which the international community can be on in the fight against terrorism."

Home Secretary David Blunkett said the apparent offer was "ludicrous", adding that British and coalition troops would not be deflected from their work.

Worried

Conservative deputy leader Michael Ancram said it showed al-Qaeda was worried.

"We have got to make absolutely sure that we stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the fight against Bin Laden, al-Qaeda and international terrorism," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

In the tape, aired by al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera satellite channels, the voice says the truce would not be extended to the US, Reuters reported.

The person on the tape also vowed to avenge Israel's killing of Hamas' spiritual leader Ahmed Sheikh Yassin.

The authenticity of the tape could not be immediately verified.

Attacks 'payment'

The voice on the tape says that "the door is open" for a truce for about three months, although this could be extended.

The truce would then begin when "the last soldier" leaves "our countries".

The tape also refers to the 11 March bombings in Madrid, Spain and the events of 11 September 2001.

It said the attacks were payment for US and Spanish actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories.

"What happened on September 11 and March 11 are your goods returned to you, so that you know security is a necessity for all," the voice said.

"Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood," it added.

Rifts?

Spain has been a prominent member of the US-led coalition in Iraq, although the new Spanish prime minister has said Spanish troops could be withdrawn if the situation in Iraq does not improve.

Analysts say the tape could be an attempt to exploit possible rifts between the US and its European allies in Iraq and compete with the rising prominence of radical Shia clerics such as Moqtada Sadr in the country.

The tape also criticises US policy for ignoring the "real problem" which is "the occupation of all of Palestine".

And it condemns the recent US-led conflict in Iraq as a money-making scheme for companies making weapons or aiding reconstruction efforts - specifically naming the American firm Halliburton.

Several tapes purporting to be by Osama Bin Laden have surfaced since the 11 September attacks - which the US has blamed on his al-Qaeda network.

The most recent, broadcast in January by the Arab satellite television channel al-Jazeera, condemned the occupation in Iraq and attacked Arab nations which supported the war.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) later said that analysis indicated the voice on the January tape was that of Osama Bin Laden.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3627943.stm

They actually responded to him? What is this? Some kind of a joke? :)

said the offer would not be extended to the US


ROFL that must be pretty obvious.. Bin Ladden wouldn't be in this position without the US he can't afford to loose this :P

Seriously this guy is getting really funny with time ... Going agaisn't all europe ... lol

No Joke, saw this earlier today........

Those are some long texts:)
But anyway...those things are really fucked up:(

hehe many euro nations rejected it...but you know they wanted to accept it

totally fucked up situation for both nations. i don't think this will subside until
Bin Laden get's caught.