Bin Laden video adds UN to list of enemies
Attacks Arab leaders
Steven Edwards
National Post
UNITED NATIONS - In lashing out at the United Nations in his latest videotape address, Osama bin Laden is attempting to show he is unfazed by U.S.-led military strikes and can take on the world, analysts believe.
Some add there may be a more ominous goal -- to order members of his al-Qaeda network to strike at the world body, where world leaders and senior government ministers begin gathering this week for the annual general debate.
Among leaders scheduled to speak on Saturday, the opening day, are George W. Bush, the U.S. President, and General Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan.
Also scheduled that day are Mohammad Khatami, President of Iran, which also opposes Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime, and John Manley, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The video, broadcast on Saturday by Qatar's al-Jazeera television network, marked bin Laden's second appearance -- and al-Qaeda's fifth statement -- since the strikes began on Oct. 7.
An AK-47 assault rifle beside him as in the first video, bin Laden appears relaxed in his mountain hideaway as he denounces Muslim leaders who work through the UN, and makes his strongest call yet for a jihad -- or holy war -- against the West.
"He wanted to show that after one month of bombings, he could still put together a good quality videotape in which he appeared composed," said Mustafa Alani, a Middle East consultant at the Royal Institute for Defence Studies in London. "Bin Laden is trying to build confidence among Arabs and Muslims. He is a relaxed man. He is telling the United States he is unshaken. Now he has a new strategy. He is attacking Arab leaderships."
Bin Laden's new focus shows he believes victory lies in shaping popular Muslim opinion into believing the military campaign is an attack against ordinary Afghans. So far, anti-American demonstrations have been limited to a relative minority of fundamentalists, mainly in Pakistan.
But polls and anecdotal evidence already show that could change rapidly. Many Arab and Muslim leaders rule over dissatisfied and effectively disenfranchised populations whose tolerance for a long military campaign or civilian casualties is limited.
Wearing a white turban and camouflage jacket, bin Laden said: "Those who want to solve our tragedies through the UN are hypocrites, deceiving God, the Prophet, and deceiving all believers. Who issued the resolution on the division of Palestine in 1947, which gave the Muslim country to the Jews? It was the UN. Those who pretend they are leaders of the Arab world and remain members of the UN are infidels."
Bin Laden called Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, a "criminal."
Arab leaders yesterday dismissed bin Laden's messages. "Bin Laden does not speak in the name of Arabs and Muslims," said Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the 22-member Arab League, which was meeting in Syria.
Added Ahmad Maher, Egypt's Foreign Minister: "There is a war between bin Laden and the whole world."
The UN is the one world institution where Arab and Muslim causes are frequently promoted beyond what the United States and Israel consider balanced.
Mr. Bush is expected to use the UN debate to advance the commitment he made recently to the creation of a Palestinian state, which Britain and Canada have also backed in recent statements.
Arab officials say Mr. Bush may meet there with Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority.
Israel has been lobbying to make sure any statement excludes dealing with the final status of contentious issues such as Jerusalem or the right of return of Palestinian refugees.
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