Osama bin Laden returns in new audio tape

Osama bin Laden has resurfaced in a new video shown on al-Jazeera Wednesday. In a lengthy statement he promised further attacks on US interests, adding that security measures had delayed such actions. His message read as follows: "This message is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end those wars, it was not my intention to talk to you about this, because those wars are definitely going our way. But what triggered my desire to talk to you is the continuous deliberate misinformation given by your President [George] Bush, when it comes to polls made in your home country which reveal that the majority of your people are willing to withdraw US forces from Iraq. We know that the majority of your people want this war to end and opinion polls show the Americans don't want to fight the Muslims on Muslim land, nor do they want Muslims to fight them on their (US) land. But Bush does not want this and claims that it's better to fight his enemies on their land rather than on American land. Bush tried to ignore the polls that demanded that he end the war in Iraq. We are getting increasingly stronger while your situation is getting from bad to worse… The war in Iraq is raging and the operations in Afghanistan are increasing. In response to the substance of the polls in the US, which indicate that Americans do not want to fight Muslims on Muslim land, nor do they want Muslims to fight them on their land, we do not mind offering a long-term truce based on just conditions that we will stick to. We are a nation that Allah banned from lying and stabbing others in the back, hence both parties of the truce will enjoy stability and security to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, which were destroyed by war. There is no problem in this solution, but it will prevent hundreds of billions from going to influential people and warlords in America - those who supported Bush's electoral campaign - and from this, we can understand Bush and his gang's insistence on continuing the war. If your desire for peace, stability and reconciliation was true, here we have given you the answer to your call. I would like to tell you that everything is going to our advantage and the number of your dead is increasing, according to Pentagon figures." [source: al-Jazeera]
Osama bin Laden has not been heard from since December 2004. This recent audio-taped message is believed to be several months old. [BBC]
[17:12 GMT 19/01/2006]