Al Qaeda Tapes Prompt FBI Warning
The FBI is warning state and local authorities that recent taped statements by al Qaeda leaders may signal that another attack on the United States has been approved.
CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin reports al Qaeda has a track record of releasing statements by its leaders just before major attacks like the Africa embassy bombings in 1998.
The White House said Thursday there were no plans to raise the terror alert level because of the al-Zawahri tape, reports CBS News Correspondent John Roberts. It is presently at yellow — "significant risk" — because officials do not have any specific information detailing where and when an attack may occur. Yellow is the third-highest of five threat levels.
In an audio taped message that aired Sunday on the Arab satellite TV station al-Jazeera, a voice believed to be that of Osama bin Laden refers to al Qaeda "targeting key sectors of the U.S. economy," the FBI noted.
Bin Laden's senior deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, repeated the threat in another audio taped interview obtained Tuesday.
The Zawahri tape is also significant because it contains references to recent events — evidence he is still alive, reports Martin.
"The group's leaders have said that they aim to undermine what they see as the backbone of U.S. power, the economy," the FBI said in a statement.
The FBI said its concerns were heightened by comments from al Qaeda detainees who interpreted the taped remarks as a sign of an attack.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said earlier in the day information on the al-Zawahri recording would be shared with law enforcement officers but would not prompt the government to raise the threat level.
The FBI urged law enforcement agencies to take extra precautions to "detect, disrupt, deter, and defend against potential attacks" against the nation, at home and abroad.
Al-Zawahri probably recorded the statement in the last few weeks, but it could have been made as early as August, a U.S. official said, adding that the recording was still being analyzed.
Al-Zawahri refers to a July 1 U.S. bombing in Afghanistan and speaks about the United States' campaign against Iraq, accusing Washington of seeking to subjugate the Arab world on behalf of Israel.
On the video compact disc, an interview with al-Zawahri is played against a video backdrop with English subtitles of the conversation, along with scenes from the Sept. 11 attacks and other news footage.
A title in the video identifies the speaker as al-Zawahri and says the video is a production of the As-Sahaab Foundation for Islamic Media. The production company is credited with earlier al Qaeda statements that appeared on Web sites and with the so-called farewell video of Ahmed Ibrahim A. Alhaznawi, a Sept. 11 hijacker.
Al-Zawahri, 51, is believed to be bin Laden's doctor and spiritual adviser, providing the ideology that drove al Qaeda. He was the head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad until he forged an alliance with bin Laden in 1998.
Al-Zawahri is on the U.S. most wanted list and the government is offering a reward of up to $25 million for information leading to his capture. Egypt sentenced him to death in absentia in 1999 for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan and for attempting to kill officials in Egypt. He has been indicted in the United States for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.
In the recording, al-Zawahri issues a warning to U.S. allies — "the deputies of America" — to get out of the Muslim world, specifying Germany and France.
"The mujahid youth has already sent messages to Germany and France," he said. "However, if these doses are not enough, we are prepared with the help of Allah, to inject further doses."
A May 8 attack on a bus in Pakistan killed 11 French engineers and an April 11 blast at a synagogue in Tunisia, a former French colony, killed 16 people, including 11 Germans. Both attacks have been linked to al Qaeda.
"As for America itself, it should expect to be treated the same way it has acted," al-Zawahri says, pointing to suffering of Muslims in Afghanistan and in the Palestinian territories.
"It will have to pay the price. ... The settlement of this overburdened account will then indeed be heavy. We will also aim to continue, by permission of Allah, the destruction of the American economy."
Al-Zawahri said the year-old U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan "has not achieved its goals. ... Neither America nor its allies have been able to harm the leadership of al Qaeda and Taliban, including Mullah Muhammad Omar and Sheik Osama bin Laden, may Allah protect them all. They are both in good health."
Asked what he saw as the motives for the United States campaign against Iraq, he said, "Its first aim is to destroy any effective military force in the proximity of Israel."
Its second aim, he said, is to consolidate the supremacy of Israel over Arab countries.
"America and its deputies should know that their crimes will not go unpunished," he said. "We advise them to make a hasty retreat from Palestine, the Arabian Gulf, Afghanistan and the rest of the Muslim states, before they lose everything."