TERROR

Reuters: Purported Bin Laden Tape
Mentions Saddam Capture

DUBAI (Reuters) - The Arabic television channel Al Jazeera aired an audio tape on Sunday purported to be from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in which he mentioned the arrest of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein by U.S. troops last month.

Saddam was captured on December 13. If authenticated, the tape would prove that the man being hunted by the United States for masterminding the attacks on U.S. cities on September 11, 2001, is still alive.

In Washington, a Central Intelligence Agency spokesman said it might take a couple of days to determine whether the tape, which sounded like previous broadcast recordings by the al Qaeda leader, was genuine.

The voice said Muslim and Arab leaders had reason to fear the precedent of letting foreigners topple a Muslim government, "especially after they saw the capture of their former comrade in treachery and collaboration with America" -- meaning Saddam.

The recording, which rambled like a sermon between a myriad of topics, urged Muslims to fight U.S. occupation forces in Iraq and criticized Gulf Arab governments for supporting Washington's invasion of an Arab country.