Bin Laden singles out Pope in new tape

Fears that Osama bin Laden may try to stage fresh al-Qaida atrocities in Europe grew tonight after he accused the pope of heading an anti-Muslim crusade.

In an audio tape released yesterday and verified as genuine by CIA sources, bin Laden also tried to reignite the row over newspaper cartoons seen by some Muslims as insulting the prophet Mohammed.

Some experts said bin Laden, believed to be in hiding in the Afghan-Pakistan border area, may be unable to organise any attacks himself and instead was trying to fan anger over the cartoons to inspire violence by supporters.

A Vatican spokesman said bin Laden’s accusation was “baseless.”

He said the pope on several occasions has criticised the cartoons, first published in several European papers in 2006 then republished in Danish papers in February.

The pope also raised widespread anger in the Muslim world with a 2006 speech in which he cited a medieval text that characterised some of the teachings of Mohammed as “evil and inhuman,” particularly “his command to spread by the sword the faith.”

The pope later said he was “deeply sorry” about the reactions his remarks sparked and stressed that they did not reflect his own opinions – and since he has led a public campaign for dialogue with Muslims.

Bin Laden’s tape was posted on a militant website that has carried al-Qaida statements in the past and bore the logo of the extremist group’s media wing Al-Sahab. An old, still image of bin Laden aiming with an assault rifle was posted along with the message.

“The response will be what you see and not what you hear and let our mothers bereave us if we do not make victorious our messenger of God,” he said, without specifying what action would be taken.

“You went overboard in your unbelief and freed yourselves of the etiquettes of dispute and fighting and went to the extent of publishing these insulting drawings,” he said. “This is the greater and more serious tragedy, and reckoning for it will be more severe.”

He said the cartoons “came in the framework of a new crusade in which the pope of the Vatican has played a large, lengthy role”.

The five-minute message came as the Muslim world marked Mohammed’s birthday.

In Washington, a U.S. counterterrorism official said Thursday that “CIA analysis assesses with a high degree of confidence it is Osama bin Laden’s voice on the tape” and that there was “no reason to doubt bin Laden is alive.”

Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general and security analyst, said bin Laden was probably too isolated to organise an attack. But the al-Qaida leader may be hoping to use anger over the cartoons to inspire violence, he said.

“Even if he has not got the capacity (to launch an attack), he will try to infuse hatred. He is trying to whip up the anguish and anger in the Islamic world and capitalise on that. He is lending his support to that movement and saying, ’We are with you.”’

The tape appeared to have been recorded since December because bin Laden refers to revelations made that month that former UK prime minister Tony Blair pushed to halt a fraud investigation against aerospace company BAE Systems PLC in part because he feared it would jeopardise an arms deal with Saudi Arabia.