Rumors of Osama bin Laden's continued existence flourished Tuesday afternoon when the Arabic television network Al Jazeera presented a 16-minute audio tape with a vocal likeness of the al Qaeda leader.
The voice speaking on the tape, which following initial analysis is believed to be bin Laden, delivered a strong appeal to Muslim peoples around the world. It urged their assistance in fighting any attack on Iraq spearheaded by the United States and proclaimed a concrete partnership between al Qaeda and Iraq.
According to a CNN translation, the voice spoke out fiercely against the United States, calling America and its allies \crusaders"" intent on conquering the former capital of Islam in hopes of ""stealing their wealth and imposing a puppet regime that follows its masters in Washington and Tel Aviv.""
The voice also proclaimed the failure of previous high-tech attacks on al Qaeda forces and implored Muslims to ""build trenches"" and confront Western powers face to face.
""We also advise you to drag the forces into fighting you in street fights. Take them into farms, into cities, and fight them in there,"" the voice said. ""They will be losing a lot of lives. We also encourage suicide attacks against the enemy. Just look at what happened to the U.S. and Israel.""
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell gave the first hint of the tape's existence Tuesday morning as he testified before the Senate Budget Committee. Al Jazeera broadcast the tape after originally denying possession of any bin Laden communique.
In his preview of the tape, Powell foreshadowed the implications of an alliance between Hussein and bin Laden, demanding that the entire world must concentrate on the harm that could spawn from such a union.
""This nexus between terrorists and states that are developing weapons of mass destruction can no longer be looked away from and ignored. As the President has said, 9/11 changed things,"" Powell said.
After its initial analysis, the CIA said the tape was probably bin Laden. The National Security Agency has yet to analyze the tape. The U.S. Government has neither confirmed nor denied bin Laden's existence since November.
UW-Madison assistant political science Professor Bruce Cronin said he believed the tape may be helpful to the American cause in the Middle East and detrimental to the goals of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in preventing such an intrusion.
Cronin said the contents of the tape will not change the foreign policies of the U.S. or any nations currently deviating from that policy.
""It's clearly a propaganda tape. All it says is that bin Laden's calling on his followers to take action if the U.S. invades Iraq,"" he said, adding, ""I bet Hussein is not very happy that this tape came out.\
