Bin Laden's aide said to be on audiotape

CAIRO, Egypt -- The Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera aired excerpts Wednesday of what it said was an audiotape of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant calling on Muslims to imitate the Sept. 11 attacks in strikes on the United States and its allies in the war on Iraq.\n"Consider your 19 brothers who attacked America in Washington and New York with their planes as an example," a strong voice could be heard saying as the station showed a file photo of Ayman al-Zawahri wearing a white turban. Children's voices could be heard in the background.\nThe identity of the speaker could not be independently authenticated, although the voice was similar to al-Zawahri's, judging from previous audiotapes and videotapes attributed to the Egyptian militant. American officials said they were reviewing the audiotape.\nIn the tape, the speaker also called for attacks on Jews and referred to demonstrations ahead of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and in its early days -- perhaps a suggestion of when the recording was made.\n"The protests, demonstrations and conferences won't work. Nothing will help you except carrying weapons and harming your enemies -- Americans and Jews," he said.\n"Oh Muslims, take your decision against the embassies of America, England, Australia and Norway, their interests, their companies and their employees," the speaker said. "Turn the earth under their feet into fire."\nBritain was the United States' main partner in the war on Iraq, and Australia contributed troops. Norway did not take part in the Iraq fighting, but provided special forces and other support in the war that dislodged al Qaeda from Afghanistan.\nThe speaker also lashed out at Arab leaders for offering "airports and the facilities" to allied troops, an apparent reference to the U.S.-led war on Iraq.\n"Here is Saudi Arabia, where planes are launched from their airports, from its lands. Here is Kuwait, where the heavy armies march from its lands. Here is Qatar, where the command of the campaign is based. Here is Bahrain, the command of the (U.S. Navy) Fifth Fleet remains inside it. Here is Egypt, the marine ships pass through its canal. Here is Yemen, the crusader ships are provided with fuel. Here is Jordan, where the crusader troops are present, and the batteries of the Patriot missiles are erected there to protect Israel."\nMohammed Salah, a Cairo-based journalist who has covered al Qaeda and other militant groups for more than a decade for the Arab daily Al-Hayat, said he believed the voice was al-Zawahri's. He added it appeared the tape was recorded during the war on Iraq, noting there was no reference to the fall of Baghdad, an event al-Zawahri would have been expected to comment on. Al-Zawahri also did not mention recent terror attacks on Saudi Arabia and Morocco.\nIn Washington, U.S. intelligence analysts were reviewing the tape. A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said although it is plausible that the speaker was al-Zawahri, a thorough technical analysis is necessary before authorities can be certain.\nAl-Jazeera chief editor Ibrahim Hilal told The Associated Press the station received the tape Tuesday night, but would not say how.\n"The quality is not very good. It's an 11-minute tape and we've aired the most significant and the newsworthy parts," Hilal said.\nAl-Jazeera aired three-and-a-half minutes of the tape and said that is all it would broadcast.\nThe whereabouts of al-Zawahri and bin Laden have been unclear since the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan dislodged al Qaeda from that country.\nAmerican intelligence officials have cited a tape that appeared in November as an indication bin Laden survived heavy U.S. bombing of his Afghan hideout after the Sept. 11 attacks and probably is with al-Zawahri in the mountains along the Afghan-Pakistani border.\nAl-Jazeera in February broadcast a purported bin Laden audiotape in which a speaker called on Iraqis to carry out suicide attacks against Americans and defend themselves against a U.S. attack. The speaker called on Muslims to rise up against Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, "regimes who are slaves of America." U.S. counterterrorism officials in Washington said then that the audio message was probably a real recording of bin Laden.\nThe last public statement attributed to al-Zawahri was in February, in an online militant newsletter. That statement called on Muslims to respond to oppression with violence.\nThe last audiotape purportedly from al-Zawahri surfaced in October 2002. A U.S. official said then that the tape, in which al-Zawahri threatens new attacks on the United States, appeared to have been recorded weeks earlier and seemed to be genuine.