CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Osama bin Laden warned in a new audiotape of a "severe" reaction for Europeans' publication of cartoons of Islam's Prophet Muhammad in what experts saw as a direct threat of a new attack in Europe.
The message, posted late Wednesday on a militant Web site that has carried al-Qaida statements in the past and bore the logo of the extremist group's media wing al-Sahab, showed a still image of bin Laden aiming with an assault rifle.
"The response will be what you see and not what you hear and let our mothers bereave us if we do not make victorious our messenger of God," said a voice believed to be bin Laden's, without specifying what action would be taken.
Ben Venzke, the head of IntelCenter, a U.S. group that monitors militant messages, called Wednesday's video a "clear threat against EU member countries and an indicator of a possible upcoming significant attack."
The five-minute message, bin Laden's first this year, made no mention of the fifth anniversary Wednesday of the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq.
It came as the Muslim world marks the Prophet Muhammad's birthday Thursday and amid the reigniting of a two-year-old controversy over Danish cartoons deemed by Muslims to be insulting.
On Feb. 13, Danish newspapers republished one of the cartoons, which shows Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban, to illustrate their commitment to freedom of speech after police said they had uncovered a plot to kill the artist.
Danish intelligence service said the reprinting of the cartoon had brought "negative attention" to Denmark and may have increased the risk to Danes at home and abroad.
The original 12 cartoons first published in a Danish newspaper triggered major protests in Muslim countries in 2006. There have been renewed protests in the last month. Muslims widely saw the cartoons as an insult, depicting the prophet as violent. Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.
In the message, bin Laden described the cartoons as taking place in the framework of a "new Crusade" against Islam, in which he said the pope has played a "large and lengthy role."
"You went overboard in your unbelief and freed yourselves of the etiquettes of dispute and fighting and went to the extent of publishing these insulting drawings," he said, according to a transcript released by the SITE Institute, another U.S. group that monitors terror messages. "This is the greater and more serious tragedy, and reckoning for it will be more severe."
Bin Laden dismissed as "excuses" Europe's citing of freedom of expression to justify the publishing of the cartoons.
"If there is no check on the freedom of your words, then let your hearts be open to the freedom of our actions," according to a transcript released by the SITE Institute, another U.S. group that monitors terror messages.
Adam Raisman, senior analyst at the SITE Institute, said that the tape's release coincides with an increased buzz in online jihadi forums calling for revenge against Europe over the cartoons.
The tape appeared to have been recorded since December because bin laden refers to revelations made that month by the British press that former Prime Minister Tony Blair pushed to halt a fraud investigation against aerospace company BAE Systems PLC in part because he feared it would jeopardize an arms deal with Saudi Arabia. Continue >>
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People should stop celebrating Momo birthday, it should help in avoiding idolatry
"Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry."
I find it interesting that evidently none of the giant pictures and statues of Saddam Hussein, Yasar Arafat, Bin Laden and all the other Muslim leaders that people in the Middle East worship don't lead to any idolatry of those figures.
It's interesting, this hatemonger Bin Laden...Benedict 16th reaches out to Islam in peace, denounces hateful cartoons and Bin Laden, grasping for straws to further incite hatred, now fabricates this during Holy Week. Cartoons depicting Islam as violent provoke another response of violence. Sounds like the cartoons are more of a documentary and statement of fact.
Does anyone else see that Osama's reactions are really the internal cry of someone longing for a REAL relationship with God, one based on love, not hate? Let us all join our prayers together to Jesus for Osama Bin Laden's conversion to Christianity, and all who follow his gospel of hate as well. In Jesus' name, Amen.
I think this meeting between the Pontiff and the Muslim representation in Vatican City in the Spring undisclosed date will be one of the most interesting stories of my personal lifetime.....