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Osama: I ordered 9/11 attacks
24/05/2006 07:16 - (SA)
Paris - Osama bin Laden said he masterminded the September 11 attacks and that convicted Frenchman Zacarias Moussaoui had no part in them, according to an audio recording released on Tuesday.
"I am responsible for assigning the roles of the 19 brothers to conduct these conquests and I did not order Zacarias to be with those on this mission," said the voice in the recording which claimed to be the terror group leader.
In Washington, a US official said the intelligence service had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the recording.
Moussaoui, a 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan origin, is the only man convicted over the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was sentenced this month at a court in Alexandria, Virginia to life imprisonment.
"His confession that he was assigned to participate in those raids is a false confession," said the recording on the as-Sahab internet site, frequently used by al-Qaeda.
The message was accompanied by a photograph of Bin Laden and the transcript of his message in English.
"No intelligent person doubts (the confession) is a result of the pressure put upon him for the past four and a half years," the message continued.
A counter-terrorism official said US intelligence is reviewing the tape and performing technical analysis to determine whether its authentic.
"But what I would tell you is that at this point there is no reason to doubt that it is authentic," official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said Bin Laden might have been responding a statement March 27 by Zacarias Moussaoui claiming that Bin Laden ordered him to fly a fifth hijacked plane into the White House on September 11.
The tape was a propaganda message aimed at showing that Bin Laden was relevant and on top of current events, the official said.
A US judge this month formally sentenced Moussaoui to life imprisonment without parole for his role in the September 11 conspiracy, after a jury rejected the death penalty.
Imprisoned for life
The jury ruled on May 3 that Moussaoui should be imprisoned for life for failing to inform US authorities about what he knew of al-Qaeda plans to carry out the attacks.
The Bin Laden voice recalled that "Brother Moussaoui" was arrested two weeks before the 9/11 attacks, saying that if he had been linked to those events then the suicide attackers would have left the United States immediately before their plans were uncovered.
According to the recording, Bin Laden also said that prisoners held at the US base at Guantanamo in Cuba "have no links with the events of September 11," and that "many of them have no connection with al-Qaeda in the first place, and even more amazing is that some of them oppose al-Qaedas methodology of calling for war with America."
"Bush and his administration are aware of this fact, but they avoid mentioning it, for reasons not hidden to the discerning. Among these reasons is that it is necessary to create justifications for the massive spending of hundreds of billions on the defence department and other agencies in their war against the Mujahideen."
In comments aimed directly at the American people, the message continued : "perhaps there will one day come from the Americans someone who desires justice and fairness, and that is the path to security and safety, if you are interested in it."
The al-Qaeda leader's last broadcast statement was an audiotape released by Qatar-based al-Jazeera television network on April 23, in which he called on Muslim fighters to go to Sudan to wage war against "crusader thieves".
- AFP
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