U.S.

New Islamic Audiotape Taunts

October 1, 2004 / 8:59 AM EDT / CBS/AP

An audiotape purportedly by key terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi boasts in an apparently recent recording that Islamic holy warriors have humiliated the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

The 45-minute recording surfaced Saturday, the third anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States, on a Web site known for its Islamic content. The poetic style and tone were similar to past tapes, but there was no way to verify its authenticity.

Initially spotted by U.S.-based counterterrorism expert Evan Kohlmann, it opened with bits of Islamic song and old speeches before introducing the speaker as al-Zarqawi.

"The holy warriors made the international coalition taste humiliation, kicked unforgettable slaps and taught them ... lessons they are still burning from," the speaker said.

He made no reference to the Sept. 11 attacks.

Al-Zarqawi, believed to be operating in Iraq, is blamed for numerous terror acts including the May beheading of kidnapped American businessman Nicholas Berg. Washington has a US$10 million bounty on his head, accusing al-Zarqawi of forming a network of terrorists to attack U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

The speaker made reference to the July and August fighting in Najaf, saying, "it was not Najaf they were after, but the courageous and steadfast Sunni Triangle." He was referring to a large swath of land to the north and west of Baghdad where resistance to the American-led forces is fiercest.

"This is how they wanted to scare us, by (showing us) those they crushed in Najaf. And this is how the cowards function. They started with them in (Najaf) to revive their soldiers before their fierce battle with the people of Sunna," the speaker said.

The tape also makes an appeal to foreign fighters who have traveled to Iraq to join the insurgency. Iraq's neighbors, at the interim Iraqi government's request, have said they would try to tighten up their often-porous borders to stem the flow of fighters, weapons and money to back the insurgency.

"As for you foreign holy warriors, by God, the road of a calling has never been full of flowers," the speaker says. "But the price of a calling is high, and the price of transmitting principles to the land of reality is a great deal of body parts and blood. Dawn will not befall this dark land except by the (deeds of) holy warriors and martyrs."

The speaker, whose recording was dotted with Islamic verses and historical parables, spoke almost poetically, often lofty rhyming his words in sophisticated Arabic.

He warned he and his followers - whom intelligence officials have estimated to number at least 2,000 inside Iraq - would not give up.

"The whole world must know that our order does not accept slavery, and does not accept to be sold in the market of bargaining. We will continue, no matter how long the road is. ... The issue is greater. It is God, and it is paradise," the speaker said.