Breaking News:
Al, you're going to love this one. OBL has released a new tape in which he speaks to Iraq and pledges his solidarity with the people of Iraq. From that message, Powell is stating to Congress that that message provides proof of his claim of a link between Saddam and OBL.
They must think we just fell off the hay cart.
ted
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New 'Osama' Tape Surfaces
(CBS)
A new tape recording apparently featuring Osama bin Laden's voice has surfaced, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday.
At a Senate budget hearing, Powell said he saw a transcript of the tape earlier in the morning.
Powell alleged a connection between Iraq and the al Qaeda network in a presentation to the U.N. Security Council last week.
He said Tuesday that the tape demonstrates those ties, report CBS News Senior White House Correspondent John Roberts.
"Once again he speaks to the people of Iraq. This nexus between terrorists and states can no longer be looked away from and ignored," Powell said, quoting "bin Laden or who we believe to be bin Laden."
The White House refused comment until after the tape airs.
Bin Laden is suspected of masterminding the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, the 2000 attack on the destroyer USS Cole, and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
In the wake of those attacks, President Bush vowed to get bin Laden "dead or alive." His current whereabouts are unknown.
Other tapes apparently featuring bin Laden's voice have surfaced since the Sept. 11 attacks, but it has often been difficult to state with certainty when the recordings were made.
As news of the tape emerged, the directors of the CIA and FBI were telling the Senate Intelligence Committee that al Qaeda still represented a serious threat to the United States.
CIA director George Tenet warned that the terror network may have learned how to make a radiological "dirty" bomb, and could be planning an attack for sometime this week.
Late last week, the Homeland Security Department ordered the nation's terror alert status upgraded from "elevated" to "high," based on what the government claims were intercepted communications pointing to a possible imminent attack.
Britain is also on high alert, with tanks and troops protecting Heathrow Airport because of fears al Qaeda could strike. British authorities recently arrested several people who allegedly possessed the deadly poison ricin.
In his testimony last week, Powell linked the ricin case to an alleged al Qaeda operative, Abu Masab Zaqawi, who Powell insisted had links to Saddam Hussein's regime.
©MMIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. |
