Bin Laden praises slain rebel

Published 9:00 pm Friday, June 30, 2006

CAIRO, Egypt – Osama bin Laden will address the fight by Islamic militants in Somalia and Iraq in an upcoming Internet message, a Web site said Friday, just hours after the al-Qaida leader released a rare statement that praised the slain Iraq insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

In the audiotape earlier Friday, bin Laden’s voice sounded tired, and he conspicuously avoided showing his face in the Web message.

The 19-minute tape was the latest in a string of messages from the al-Qaida leader this year that have been strong on propaganda, but have said little about how the terror network will continue its “jihad” against the United States – raising questions about bin Laden’s level of control.

The pace of the messages, however, has increased dramatically this year – with four audiotapes from bin Laden and seven audio and videotapes by his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Hours after Friday’s message appeared, an advertisement on the same Islamic Web site said bin Laden would issue another tape directed to “the Islamic nation in general and the mujahedeen in Iraq and Somalia in particular.” A similar announcement preceded bin Laden’s message Friday by about 24 hours.

Bin Laden has not appeared in a video since October 2004 and did not issue any messages in 2005. This year, he has made four audiotapes, part of a stepped-up media campaign by him and al-Zawahri, who has appeared in several videos.

Terror experts said bin Laden’s reluctance to show his face probably does not indicate he is in poor health and instead is likely a security measure to prevent hints of his location from slipping out.

Bruce Hoffman, a RAND counterterrorism expert based in Washington, D.C., said it may also be that bin Laden is trying to increase the drama of an eventual appearance.

“You do videotape when there’s something important,” Hoffman said. “When bin Laden appears, it’s something very special. He’s as shrewd a showman as they come, and his sense of choreography is very high.”

So far, the opportunity hasn’t presented itself, a sign the al-Qaida leader – believed to be in hiding in the Afghan-Pakistan border region – is seeking for now just to show he survives and remains in control.

The Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a June 7 airstrike by U.S. warplanes, became a hero among extremists by positioning himself as al-Qaida’s fighter on the ground, battling the Americans on the hottest front of jihad, Iraq.

In the audiotape, bin Laden poured praise on al-Zarqawi in rhymed couplets traditional to Islamic poetry, calling him a “lion of Islam” who was “not just an honor to his tribe, his country and his Islamic nation, but to all mankind.”

The audiotape narration was part of a 19-minute video showing old footage of al-Zarqawi, in a split screen with an old photo of bin Laden. U.S. intelligence officials believe it is bin Laden’s voice, a counterterrorism official said.

Bin Laden’s voice – always quiet in his messages – sounded fatigued on the tape. He demanded that President Bush release al-Zarqawi’s body to his family and that Jordan allow him to be buried in his homeland, something Amman has said will never happen.