Bin Laden tape urges Iraqis to fight US
The message was contained in an audio statement broadcast by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite station.
"We stress the importance of suicide bombings against the enemy, these attacks that have scared Americans and Israelis like never before," bin Laden said in the tape.
The TV station said it assumed the tape was authentic because it came through the same means as previous bin Laden statements. "When you listen to the tape, you can tell it's Osama bin Laden's voice," said Yasser Thabet, a broadcast editor at the station.
The new tape will reinforce the belief that the man who masterminded the September 11 attacks on the US survived the war in Afghanistan.
Chief editor Ibrahim Hilal said the 16-minute tape was a message to Iraqis to remain steadfast in the face of a potential American attack.
Hilal said that on the tape bin Laden urged Muslims not to co-operate with the US against Iraq, saying any Muslim who did co-operate with America against another Muslim would be an apostate.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told a Senate panel that the new statement from bin Laden underlined why the world should be concerned about Iraqi ties to terrorism.
Mr Powell said he read a transcript of "what bin Laden or who we believe to be bin Laden where he once again speaks to the people of Iraq and talks about their struggle and how he is in partnership with Iraq".
The US has accused Iraq of links with al-Qaida, a charge Iraqi President Saddam Hussein denied earlier this month. Mr Powell told the Senate: "This nexus between terrorists and states that are developing weapons of mass destruction can no longer be looked away from and ignored."
Earlier today, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw launched a withering attack on France and Germany's call for more weapons inspectors in Iraq, describing it as a "recipe for procrastination and delay".
As the bitter dispute within the NATO alliance over the Iraqi crisis continued to deepen, he said the reported Franco-German plan which also includes the deployment of UN troops was not feasible.
He warned that the block by France, Germany and Belgium on the dispatch of NATO missile batteries to defend Turkey in the event of war risked eroding the Western alliance.
And he said if chief UN inspector Hans Blix reported Iraq was still in material breach of its obligations to disarm when he briefed the Security Council on Friday, the case for a new resolution authorising force would be overwhelming.
Mr Straw's uncompromising comments, in a speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, left the gaping divisions at the heart of the Western alliance more exposed than ever.
The Americans have made no secret at their fury at the tactics of France and Germany, who have been leading the opposition to war within the EU and the Security Council.
Mr Straw's speech suggested the Government may have moved a step closer to accepting Britain and the US will have to take action without the sanction of a specific UN mandate.
Such a move would be very risky for Tony Blair, who knows he could struggle to command public support and would face a devastating split in the ranks of the Labour Party.
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