Global Arab Network | Bin Laden: "Obama has planted new seeds of hatred."

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Bin Laden: "Obama has planted new seeds of hatred."

Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, warns Americans to prepare for war, in his latest audio message broadcast on Wednesday, shortly after Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia.

The message was broadcast for the first time on Al-Jazeera Television around the same time Obama started his Mideast visit, which aim is to repair relations with the Muslim world frayed under the previous Bush administration.

Bin Laden accused the US president of following the policy of his predecessor George Bush in "antagonising Muslims". "He has followed the steps of his predecessor in antagonising Muslims ... and laying the foundation for long wars" bin Laden said.

Al-Qaeda leader claimed U.S. pressure led to a campaign of "killing, fighting, bombing and destruction" that prompted the exodus of a million Muslims from Swat in northwest Pakistan.

"He gave his orders to Zardari (Pakistani President Asif Ali) and his army to prevent the people of Swat from applying Sharia (Islamic) law," he said.

"Elderly people, children and women fled their homes and lived in tents as refugees after they have lived in dignity in their homes," bin Laden said. "Let the American people be ready to reap what the White House leaders have sown," he added.

"Obama and his administration have sown new seeds to increase hatred and revenge on America," bin Laden continued. "The number of these seeds is equal to the number of displaced people from Swat Valley," bin Laden continued.

"Let the American people prepare to harvest the crops of what the leaders of the White House plant in the next years and decades," he concluded.

Saudi Arabia described the new tape as a sign of the al-Qaeda chief's desperation.

"It's an act of desperation," Nial al-Jubeir, a Saudi information ministry official, told AFP news agency. "They are still making their statements while hiding in a cave," he added.

In its first public comment regarding the latest bin Laden's tape, the White House says the al Qaeda leader is trying to shift attention away from the president's visit to the Middle East.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters in Rihyadh, Saudi Arabia, the tape is "consistent with messages we've seen in the past."

Gibs said the White House was not surprised bin Laden released the message threatening America just as Obama was preparing to deliver a major speech on U.S. relations with the Muslim world. Obama advisers have not yet been able to completely review the tape.

Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, promptly dismissed suggestions that anyone but al-Qaida and the Taliban are responsible for the refugee crisis in Pakistan. He spoke during a visit to Islamabad.

"This entire problem began with al-Qaida and its associates and everybody in the world knows that. It's silly indeed to respond to such a ludicrous charge," Holbrooke said at a joint news conference with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

Bin Laden focused entirely on Pakistan in his latest message, claiming Zardari was paid by the White House to start the crackdown. Zardari "turned the army from its main task of protecting Islam, Muslims and their land," he said.

Obama flew into Saudi Arabia before heading to Egypt on Thursday to give a much-anticipated speech in Cairo to the world's 1.5 million Muslims.

Bin Laden's right-hand man Ayman al-Zawahiri earlier urged Egyptians to shun Obama, saying his trip was at the invitation of the "torturers of Egypt" and the "slaves of America." He said it would not change the "bloody messages" the U.S. military is sending Muslims in American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the United Arab Emirates, Vice President and Prime Minister Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum warned Obama that the worsening economic situation would strengthen extremism in the Islamic world. (Aljazeera, AP, CBS, ABC, AFP)

Global Arab Network

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