Two days after the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, Osama bin Laden released a new audio recording titled "Message to the American People," news agencies reported Monday. The 11-minute 20-second message appeared on the Arabic Web site As-Sahab and offered justifications for al-Qaeda's attacks eight years ago. "Amongst some other injustices," Bin Laden says on the tape, U.S. support for Israel motivated the terrorist attacks. He criticized Barack Obama, saying that the new president has sowed new seeds of hatred in the Muslim world.
"The time has come for you to liberate yourselves from fear and the ideological terrorism of neo-conservatives and the Israeli lobby," bin Laden said. "The reason for our dispute with you is your support for your ally Israel, occupying our land in Palestine." He added that there had been no real change in U.S. policy since Obama took office, especially because the new president retained Robert Gibbs as secretary of defense.
"I don't think it's surprising that al-Qaeda would want to shift attention away from the president's historic efforts and continued efforts to reach out and have an open dialogue with the Muslim world," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs responded.
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