Bin Laden Urges Suicide Attacks on Us

Osama bin Laden last night returned to haunt America in the midst of preparations for a war in Iraq, when a new tape attributed to the al-Qaida leader was broadcast on the leading Arab television network, urging Iraqis to carry out suicide attacks against the United States.

The audio tape was played on al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite channel that has been the conduit for previous Bin Laden declarations. Al-Jazeera journalists said the tape appeared to be authentic.

The re-emergence of the Saudi fugitive after a three-month silence came at an awkward time for the Bush administration, as it served as a reminder that the US was embarking on a new phase of its "war on terror" before achieving a decisive victory in the first. It also worsened domestic jitters over the prospect of another spectacular al-Qaida attack in retaliation for an invasion of Iraq.

However, Bush administration officials said the tape was evidence for US claims of a partnership between al-Qaida and Iraq.

The al-Jazeera tape was in part a pep talk aimed at Iraqis based on al-Qaida's experience in Afghanistan, urging them in almost Churchillian terms to fight the invader in the "plains, mountains and cities" and to prepare suicide tactics.

"Don't worry about the American lies and their smart bombs and laser ones, they look for only the clear obvious targets ... The most effective means to devoid the aerial force of its content is by digging large numbers of trenches and camouflage them."

The Bush administration saw the statement as proof that the war against Bin Laden and the war against Saddam Hussein were inextricably tied.

However, if the voice on the tape was that of Bin Laden, who has not been seen since he vanished in the Afghan mountains in late 2001, he was less than fulsome in his praise of Saddam and his Ba'ath party, who he referred to as "socialists" and "infidels"

But he suggested a tactical alliance. "It does not harm in these circumstances that the interests of Muslims and socialists intersect in the battle against the Crusaders," the tape said.

It urged Muslims everywhere to rise up against the US and its allies, and "apostates" in the Arab world who backed Washington.

The tape was translated live on American television, deepening a general level of apprehension that another attack on the scale of September 11 may be in the pipeline. George Tenet, the director of the CIA, said such an attack was increasingly likely, and that it could well involve chemical, biological weapons or even a radioactive "dirty bomb".

Americans have been told to keep masking tape and plastic sheeting in their homes along with three days' supply of water and a battery-powered radio in case of such attacks. The advisory was part of a set of guidelines distributed by the Bush administration's newly created homeland security department.

A White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, insisted that it was acting out of caution rather than as a result of "specific, credible intelligence".

However, in his "worldwide threat briefing" to Congress, Mr Tenet warned of an imminent attack from al-Qaida.

"It points to plots timed to occur as early as end of the Hajj [the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina] which occurs later this week, and it points to plots that could include the use of a radiological dispersal device as well as poisons and chemicals."

The public was advised to stockpile tape and plastic sheeting in their homes in order to seal off windows and doors in the event of a chemical or biological attack. Guidelines prepared by the federal emergency management agency (FEMA) also provide advice on how to decontaminate victims of a chemical or biological attack. If hit by chemicals, the public is told to "remove all clothing and other items in contact with the body."