Bin Laden, in new tape, accuses West of crusading against Islam
( 2001-12-27 17:08 ) (7 )

A defiant Osama bin Laden accused the West of waging a crusade and loathing Islam in a new tape broadcast on an Arabic news channel possibly dating from early December, at the height of a US bombing onslaught against his al-Qaeda network.

Wearing khaki combat fatigues and with an assault rifle propped by his side, bin Laden said he wanted to review "the fierce crusade against Islam, two months after it was launched."

"The latest events have proved important truths. It has become clear that the West in general and America in particular have an unspeakable hatred for Islam," said bin Laden on the tape carried by Qatari-based satellite television station Al-Jazeera.

There was no immediate indication where the tape was filmed. If it was indeed made two months after the start of the US operation against bin Laden and his Taliban protectors, in Afghanistan it would put the date of taping around December 7.

No immediate reaction was available from the White House or top US officials.

But leading administration officials have admitted they do not know where bin Laden is. There has been speculation that the Saudi-born dissident may have escaped into Pakistan or could have been killed in a fierce US pounding of his mountain hideouts in Afghanistan's Tora Bora region.