Tapes from Osama bin Laden since 9/11

By The Associated Press

May 23, 2006

Boston news

Audio and videotapes from Osama bin Laden since Sept. 11, 2001:

-- May 23, 2006: Osama bin Laden purportedly says in an Internet audio tape that Zacarias Moussaoui had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks.

-- April 23, 2006: In an audiotape on Arab TV, bin Laden says the West was at war with Islam and calls on his followers to go to Sudan to fight a proposed U.N. force.

-- Jan. 19, 2006: Bin Laden vows never to be captured alive and says the U.S. military has become as "barbaric" as Saddam Hussein in an audiotape broadcast on Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channel.

--Dec. 28, 2004: An hourlong audiotape, he endorses Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq and calls for a boycott of Iraqi elections.

-- Dec. 16, 2004: An audiotape posted on an Islamic Web site shows a man identified as bin Laden praising militants who attacked a U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia earlier that month and calling on militants to stop the flow of oil to the West.

-- Oct. 29, 2004: Al-Jazeera airs a video of bin Laden saying the United States can avoid another Sept. 11 attack if it stops threatening the security of Muslims.

-- May 6, 2004: In an online audiotape released on Islamic forums, bin Laden offers rewards of gold for the killing of U.S. and U.N. officials.

-- April 15, 2004: A man identifying himself as bin Laden offers a "truce" to European countries that do not attack Muslims.

-- Jan. 4, 2004: A speaker thought to be bin Laden says on an audiotape broadcast on Al-Jazeera that the U.S.-led war in Iraq is the beginning of the "occupation" of Persian Gulf states for their oil. He calls on Muslims to keep fighting a holy war in the Middle East.

-- Sept. 10, 2003: In the first video image of bin Laden in nearly two years, he is shown walking through rocky terrain with top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri. Two taped messages accompanied the video In one, a voice purporting to be bin Laden's praises the "great damage to the enemy" on Sept. 11 and mentions five hijackers by name. In the other tape, a voice said to be that of al-Zawahri threatens more attacks on Americans.

-- April 7, 2003: In an audiotape obtained by The Associated Press in Pakistan, bin Laden exhorts Muslims to rise up against Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other governments it claims are "agents of America," and calls for suicide attacks against U.S. and British interests. The CIA determines the 27-minute tape is likely authentic.

-- Feb. 13, 2003: An audiotape purported to be of bin Laden reads a poetic last will and testament in a recording first obtained by the British-based Islamic Al-Ansaar news agency. Bin Laden says he wants to die a martyr in a new attack against the United States.

-- Feb. 11, 2003: Bin Laden calls on Iraqis to carry out suicide attacks against Americans and defend themselves against a U.S. attack in a tape broadcast on Al-Jazeera. U.S. counterterrorism officials say the audio message was probably authentic.

-- Nov. 12, 2002: Al-Jazeera broadcasts a brief audiotape in which a voice attributed to bin Laden says the "youths of God" are planning more attacks against the United States. U.S. experts say the tape can't be authenticated because of its poor quality.

-- Dec. 13, 2001: U.S. Defense Department releases videotape of bin Laden in Afghanistan on Nov. 9, 2001, saying the destruction of the Sept. 11 attacks exceeded even his "optimistic" calculations.