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Bin Laden rails against U.S. in new video
(CNN) -- Osama bin Laden accused the United States of hating Islam in an excerpt of a videotaped statement aired Wednesday by the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television network. "After three months since the blessed attack that took place against the head of the snake, the United States, and after two months since the crusade started against Islam, we would like to speak on some of the implications of those incidents," bin Laden said. "It has become crystal clear that the West in general, led by the United States, are full of hatred against Islam. Hatred that cannot be defined." (Full story) The five-minute excerpt showed bin Laden dressed in his now-familiar fatigues and seated in front of a brown curtain with an automatic rifle propped next to him. Al-Jazeera network executives told CNN they do not know where or when the videotape was made, despite bin Laden's reference in the tape to September 11 taking place three months ago. Al-Jazeera's managing director, Mohammed Jassim al-Ali, said the 34-minute tape, which the network received from Pakistan, will be aired at 1835 GMT (1:35 p.m. ET) Thursday. The White House called the tape a diatribe. "This is nothing more than the same kind of terrorist propaganda that we've heard before," said Scott McClellan, deputy White House press secretary.
Latest developments U.S. interrogators showed a picture of Richard Reid -- the man accused of having explosive material in his shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight last week -- to several detainees who said they saw him at terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. But U.S. officials said Wednesday the Bush administration so far does not have any independent confirmation of Reid being tied to al Qaeda or the Taliban and note it is possible the detainees lied to investigators. (Full story) As tensions between India and Pakistan mount and as both countries build up their military forces along their border, U.S. officials said they find the situation "troubling." Interrupting his Christmas vacation, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell came to the State Department on Wednesday to work on the issue, State Department officials said. Powell designated Jaish e-Mohammed, the group believed to be responsible for the December 13 suicide attack on the Indian parliament, and Lashkar e-Tayyiba as terrorist organizations. That categorization makes it illegal in the United States to support them financially. (Full story) Pentagon officials said Wednesday that Marines will not be deployed to search caves in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan. The U.S. military said it will use Special Forces troops to continue searching caves rather than large numbers of Marines, as previously contemplated. U.S. Marines at the Kandahar airport in Afghanistan remained on heightened alert Wednesday after officials said they received warnings of a possible threat during the holidays. Recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site stopped only briefly Tuesday for Christmas services, then continued, with the crews determined to help console grieving families by bringing home the missing. (Full story) A security firm told French authorities on two different days that Reid should be screened further, the president of the firm said Tuesday. Lior Zucker, president and CEO of the security firm ICTS, said his security officers recommended Friday and Saturday that French authorities take a closer look at Reid. The suspect, 28, is being held in Massachusetts on charges of interfering with a flight crew. (Full story) Afghanistan's interim administration resumed the task of rebuilding the shattered country on Wednesday, with the government meeting for the second time since its inauguration. (Full story) After her husband died in the September 11 crash of United Flight 93 in rural Pennsylvania, Dorothy Garcia said all she wanted from the wreckage was her husband's wedding ring. FBI agents told her it probably couldn't be found in the field where the hijacked plane went down. But last week, two agents presented Garcia with a neatly wrapped package containing her husband's wallet -- and a velvet pouch with his wedding ring.(Full story) It was a bittersweet Christmas for many still coming to terms with the September 11 terrorist attacks as thousands mourned loved ones and more packed churches looking for answers. "With the holidays, it's really hard," said Kellie Lee, whose husband Dan was killed when American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the World Trade Center's north tower. "I know now he is not coming home and there is no one there for me." (Full story) |
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