Bin Laden threatens attacks, offers truce
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-20 06:47

Al-Jazeera's editor-in-chief Ahmed al-Sheik would not comment on when or where the latest tape was received. He said the full tape was 10 minutes long. The station aired excerpts with what it "considered newsworthy," he said, but would not say what was on the remainder.

Jeremy Bennie, a terrorism analyst for Jane's Defense Weekly, said bin Laden appeared to be "playing the peacemaker, the more statesmanlike character" with his offer of a truce.

"They want to promote the image that they can launch attacks if and when it suits them. That's the message of a powerful organization, not a weakened one. They want us to believe they are in control," he said.

The mention of rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan may be a recognition of divisions among the ranks of Islamic militants over the insurgency in Iraq by bin Laden's ally, al-Zarqawi, who has come under criticism by some radicals for attacks on Iraqi civilians.

"The initial significance of this is that he's still alive," former White House antiterrorism chief Richard A. Clarke said.

Beyond that, he told The Associated Press, "the only new element in his statement is that they are planning an attack soon on the United States.

"Would he say that and risk being proved wrong, if he can't pull it off in a month or so?" Clarke asked.

Of the truce offer, which Clarke said bin Laden has made before, "I think it's designed to make him look more reasonable in Arab and Muslim eyes. He's a very sophisticated reader of world opinion and American opinion, and he obviously knows he can't affect American thinking. He's too reviled."

Intelligence authorities were examining why bin Laden would be speaking out after more than a year of letting his al-Zawahri serve as al-Qaida's public face in statements and other communications.