Germany leads doubters on al Qaeda-Iraq link

11.00am

BERLIN - Germany, Europe's most vocal opponent of war in Iraq, has swiftly dismissed US claims that a new audio tape, believed to be of Osama bin Laden, points to close links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.

Ordinary Iraqis said bin Laden was an outcast and Muslims elsewhere said he was supporting Iraq's people, not its leader.

US officials said the recording was probably genuine and evidence of collusion between the Iraqi president and bin Laden, the man accused of planning the September 11 attacks.

But Germany said the tape, which exhorted Muslims to fight the "allies of the devil", appeared to contain no such proof.

"From what is known so far, we don't think we can conclude that there is evidence of an axis or close link between the regime in Baghdad and al Qaeda," a government spokesman said.

The United States has been keen to establish a link between Iraq and bin Laden's al Qaeda network to bolster its case for a possible war against Baghdad.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, US President George W Bush's staunchest ally, said the tape, broadcast on Tuesday on Qatar's al-Jazeera television, showed a "willingness of bin Laden to find a common cause with Iraq".

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that while bin Laden and Saddam did not share an ideology, they shared "a belief that terrorism can be used to achieve political ends".

Italy, another firm ally of Washington on Iraq, said the tape had fuelled worries about Saddam.

"Saddam Hussein is a serious threat...one which has unfortunately been aggravated by recent and authentic proclamations from bin Laden which shed new light on ties between al Qaeda and the Iraqi regime," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told parliament's foreign affairs commission.

The tape denounced Saddam -- whose Baath Party is secular -- as an infidel but said it did not hurt that the interests of Muslims coincided with those of Iraq's government in "the war against the crusaders".

Few people in Baghdad had heard the message, which was not broadcast on state-controlled media. But ordinary Iraqis were adamant that their country had nothing to do with the fugitive bin Laden, who has often criticised Saddam.

"Bin Laden is an outcast. We do not have any relationship with him," said one Baghdad resident. Saddam said earlier this month he had no links with al Qaeda.

In London, Inayat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, said the tape "blows the US thesis that there is a link between al Qaeda and the regime of Saddam Hussein out of the water".

"Bin Laden is trying to mobilise Muslim support for the people of Iraq, not for the regime in Iraq," he said.

Some Muslims on the haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia said they were delighted to hear what they considered proof that the "Islamic leader" was still alive.

"I am very happy he is alive because he has made a lot of sacrifices for God and Muslims," said Abdulrahman, a young Egyptian. "May God help him in his struggle against the infidels until total victory."

But the US general leading the hunt for al Qaeda and Taleban fugitives in Afghanistan said the audio tape did not prove bin Laden was still alive.

"This to me is still not compelling evidence that he is alive or dead," said Lieutenant-General Dan McNeill, at the US headquarters at Bagram, north of Kabul.

The British-based Ansaar news agency said on Wednesday it had a new tape recording of bin Laden, bought through the internet, in which the Saudi-born militant allegedly predicts his death this year in an unspecified act of martyrdom.

"Indeed surely this year will I lead my steed and hurl it, and my soul, at one of the targets... and I become a martyr," Imran Khan, who runs Ansaar, translated the tape as saying.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq