AL-QAEDA'S QUEEN OF DIAMONDS?:

Was Bin Laden's Tape An Instruction To Attack?: Two weeks ago bin Laden threatened to attack Israel. The Kenya blast proves that al-Qa'eda has extended its targets. (David Wastell and Inigo Gilmore, Dec 01, 2002, The Daily Telegraph)

When an audiotape purporting to have been recorded by Osama bin Laden surfaced via the al-Jazeera television network just two weeks ago, there were immediate questions about its authenticity.

It took three days for American experts to conclude that the voice speaking on the tape was, almost certainly, that of the al-Qa'eda leader. Last week's attacks on Israeli tourists in Kenya showed that the message of the tape was also chillingly genuine.

"You will be killed just as you kill, and will be bombed just as you bomb," bin Laden declared. "And expect more that will further distress you."

In what appeared at the time to be routine lip service to the cause with which millions of Arabs identify, he said recent terror attacks were a reaction to "what Israel, an American ally, is doing, bombing homes with elderly women and children inside, using American planes in Palestine". Last Thursday's hotel bombing and attempt to bring down an airliner were proof that bin Laden's threat to Israel is now deadly serious.

It actually seems unlikely that it's bin Laden on the tape, but it's totally believable that they'd trigger attacks this way. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 1, 2002 12:28 PM