Oct. 1, 2004
Dubai - An audiotape purportedly released by Osama bin Laden's deputy calls for attacks on United States and British forces everywhere, according to comments aired by Al-Jazeera TV Friday.
The station said the speaker on the tape was Ayman al-Zawahri, an Egyptian-born surgeon and the closest aide to al-Qaeda terrorist group leader bin Laden.
It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the recording.
The speaker on the latest tape calls on Muslims "not to wait any longer, otherwise, we will be devoured, one country after the other."
'Begin resisting'
"The youth must not wait for anyone and must begin resisting from now and learn a lesson from Iraq and Afghanistan and Chechnya."
In addition to the United States and Britain, al-Zawahri singled out Australia, France, Poland, Norway, South Korea and Japan, saying they had all participated in occupying Afghanistan or Iraq or Chechnya and gave Israel "means of survival."
The audiotape was the second to surface in less than a month on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera station.
On September 9, Al-Jazeera broadcast a videotape of al-Zawahri proclaiming that the United States will ultimately be defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US Central Intelligence Agency determined with a high degree of confidence that the previous message was al-Zawahri.
The US government has offered up to $25-million for information leading to his killing or capture.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20041001_518.html