Osama bin Laden said in a videotape aired Friday that the United States can avoid another Sept. 11 attack if it halts threatening the security of Muslims.
The al-Qaeda chief said "there are still reasons to repeat what happened."
"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry, Bush or al-Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands," bin Laden said. "Any state that does not mess with our security has naturally guaranteed its own security."
Bin Laden said he ordered Sept. 11 attack because of injustices against the Lebanese and Palestinians by Israel and the United States.
"To the American people, my message to you is about the best way to avoid another Manhattan," he said. "I tell you: Security is an important element of human life and, free people do not give up their security."
After the video was aired, President Bush said that "Americans will not be intimidated" by bin Laden. Sen. John Kerry criticized Bush for failing to capture bin Laden earlier and said that "I can run a more effective war on terror."
Before the tape was aired, the State Department asked the government of Qatar to discourage Al-Jazeera from broadcasting it, a senior State Department official said, according to The AP.
In the video, bin Laden accused Bush of misleading Americans by saying the attack was carried out because al-Qaeda members "hate freedom." He said his followers have left alone countries that do not threaten Muslims.
"We fought you because we are free ... and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours," bin Laden said.
He said he was first inspired to attack the United States by the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon in which towers and buildings in Beirut were destroyed in the siege of the capital.
"While I was looking at these destroyed towers in Lebanon, it sparked in my mind that the tyrant should be punished with the same and that we should destroy towers in America, so that it tastes what we taste and would be deterred from killing our children and women," he said.
"God knows that it had not occurred to our mind to attack the towers, but after our patience ran out and we saw the injustice and inflexibility of the American-Israeli alliance toward our people in Palestine and Lebanon, this came to my mind," he said. (albawaba.com)
