WASHINGTON, 21 January 2006 — The Bush administration dismissed a conditional truce offered in a tape attributed to Osama Bin Laden on Thursday, saying it “does not negotiate with terrorists.” Vice President Dick Cheney said the offer from the Al-Qaeda leader appeared to be a ploy, but that it was too early to draw conclusions. “We do not negotiate with terrorists, we put them out of business,” added White House spokesman Scott McClellan. American officials said the release might have been timed to assure his followers that he was alive following an American bombing of a house in Pakistan where senior Al-Qaeda operatives were killed, including Ayman Al-Zawahiri’s son-in-law. CIA officials said US intelligence analysts believed the voice on the tape, portions of which were aired on Al-Jazeera television, and the first from Bin Laden since 2004 — belonged to the Al-Qaeda leader. In it, Bin Laden warned of new attacks inside the US, but said Al-Qaeda was willing to “respond” to US public opinion in favor of withdrawing troops from Iraq. The voice did not specify conditions for the truce, but indicated it was linked to US troops quitting Iraq. Asked about the truce offer, Cheney told Fox News in an interview: “I’m not sure what he’s offering by way of a truce. I don’t think anybody would believe him...it sounds to me like it’s some kind of a ploy. This is not an organization that’s ever going to sit down and sign a truce. I think you have to destroy them.” US counterterrorism officials said they have seen no specific or credible intelligence to indicate an impending Al-Qaeda attack on the United States. The Homeland Security Department has no immediate plans to raise the national terror alert, spokesman Russ Knocke said. But ABC News reported that Homeland Security officials were sending a bulletin to 18,000 police agencies telling them to review all of their intelligence. Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert and head of the Rand Corp.’s Washington office, told reporters that Bin Laden’s message addressed Americans on the surface, but was really intended to boost his standing among Muslims. “He’s trying to appear statesmanlike rather than wild-eyed and fanatical,” said Hoffman. “His most important audience is the Muslim world, and he needed to demonstrate that he’s still an important and compelling force to be reckoned with.” The tape was the first since December 2004 that a recording of Bin Laden’s voice has surfaced. During those 13 months of silence, Bin Laden’s prominence in radical circles has been eclipsed by his Egyptian deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian fighter and insurgent leader in Iraq. Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda’s political strategist, has released at least eight recorded statements in the past year, including an audiotape last September when he tried to end rumors that Bin Laden was dead or out of action. Zarqawi, an occasional rival who has angered Al-Qaeda’s original leadership with some of his brutal tactics, regularly releases statements on the Internet and claimed responsibility for the hotel bombings in Amman, Jordan, last November. Counterterrorism analysts said Bin Laden was under pressure to demonstrate that he remained in control, as he felt others like Zarqawi have been taking the spotlight form him. Former White House anti-terrorism chief Richard A. Clarke told the AP that the truce offer may be aimed at making Bin Laden “look more reasonable in Arab and Muslim eyes. He’s a very sophisticated reader of world opinion and American opinion, and he obviously knows he can’t affect American thinking. He’s too reviled,” he said.
CIA potwierdziła autentyczność wyemitowanej dziś taśmy z głosem Aymana al-Zawahiriego. Rzecznik Centralnej Agencji Wywiadowczej powiedział, że ''po wielu analizach taśmy, CIA stwierdziła, że głos należy do al-Zawahiriego''.


Taśma została opublikowana na internetowym forum, z którego już wcześniej korzystali członkowie Al-Kaidy. W nagraniu al-Zawahiri recytuje wiersz "Męczennicy dżihadu", który dedykuje ''braciom muzułmanom na całym świecie, braciom mudżahedinom wzmacnianym przez Islam przeciwko krucjacie syjonistów w Palestynie, Iraku, Afganistanie i Czeczenii, a także lwom przeganiającym grupy krzyżowców i ich najemników w górach i dolinach Afganistanu i w jego ranionej stolicy, Kabulu''. Na końcu przywódca Al-Kaidy dodał, że ''jest zaszczycony, że może zaprezentować ten wiersz, napisany przez Maulai Muhibbulla al-Kandahariego, który dzierżąc pióro i miecz był znany w kręgach uczonych, w obozach treningowych i na polach bitewnych dżihadu''.

Nadal niejasne jest, kiedy taśma została nagrana i czy ma coś wspólnego z wyemitowanym w czwartek przez katarską telewizję Al-Dżazira nagraniu głosu Usamy bin Ladina. W nagraniu al-Zawahiri nie wspomina nic o amerykańskim ataku rakietowym, w którym zginęło 18 osób, w tym kobiety i dzieci. Według doniesień wśród ofiar miało być też 4 terrorystów. Według amerykańskiego specjalisty ds. terroryzmu, istnieje przypuszczenie, że taśma została nagrana znacznie wcześniej, a dopiero teraz ktoś zdecydował się ją opublikować.

W czwartek wiceprezydent USA, Dick Chaney, odrzucił ultimatum postawione przez bin Ladina w nagraniu wyemitowanym przez Al-Dżazirę. ''Nie negocjujemy z terrorystami'' – powiedział Chaney.
Wiceprezydent Stanów Zjednoczonych dodał także, że jego zdaniem propozycja Al-Kaidy to tylko taktyka, ale powiedział również, że ''jest za wcześnie, by wyciągać wnioski''.