The language -- anyone here with the skills to compare this statement with others. The last line posted -- "It does not hurt that in current circumstances..." -- sounds a bit strange to my ears, relative to previous OBL statements.
Anyway got a transcript of the full statement?
Doug Henwood wrote:
>[gotta love Reuters sometimes: "But the statement did not express
>support for Saddam." What U.S. outlet would flatly contradict the
>USG?]
>
>Top Stories - Reuters
>Bin Laden Labels Saddam an Infidel - Jazeera TV
>1 hour, 48 minutes ago
>
>By Samia Nakhoul
>
>DUBAI (Reuters) - A taped message believed to be from fugitive
>militant Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) on Tuesday warned Arab
>nations against supporting a war against Iraq as threatened by the
>United States -- but branded Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) an
>infidel.
>
>In a broadcast coinciding with a major Muslim festival that prompted
>tight security in the United States and Britain to avert possible
>attacks, the man blamed for September 11 urged Muslims to fight
>America and repel any war against Iraq.
>
>"We stress the importance of martyrdom (suicide) attacks against the
>enemy. These attacks inflicted on America and Israel a disaster they
>have never experienced before," said the statement, broadcast on the
>Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite television channel.
>
>Any Arab ruler supporting America or providing logistical or verbal
>backing for a war on Iraq would be "an apostate whose blood should
>be spilled," it said.
>
>The broadcast coincided with the start of the three-day Muslim Eid
>al-Adha festival marking the end of the annual Haj -- the pilgrimage
>to Mecca.
>
>U.S. officials said the tape was probably genuine, the strongest
>evidence so far that bin Laden survived the U.S.-led war in
>Afghanistan (news - web sites) to drive out the Taliban government
>and the al Qaeda network of the Saudi-born militant.
>
>State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the tape
>corroborated the allegations that Secretary of State Colin Powell
>(news - web sites) made to the U.N. Security Council last week to
>justify U.S. threats to go to war against Iraq -- that al Qaeda and
>the Iraqis were in contact and cooperating.
>
>But the statement did not express support for Saddam. It said
>Muslims should support the Iraqi people rather than the country's
>government.
>
>Concern that the United States has not made a valid case for war
>against Iraq has already divided the NATO (news - web sites) Western
>alliance, with France, Germany and Belgium refusing to back
>preparations to assist fellow-member Turkey in the event of war.
>
>A NATO official in Brussels said after two days of deadlock that
>efforts to break the impasse in the alliance would continue through
>the night, with a meeting of its North Atlantic Council set for 3:45
>a.m. EST on Wednesday.
>
>While urging Muslims to support the Iraqi people and repel any
>attack on their country, the tape said Saddam's secular "socialist"
>government had lost credibility.
>
>"Socialists are infidels wherever they are," the statement said. But
>it added: "It does not hurt that in current circumstances, the
>interests of Muslims coincide with the interests of the socialists
>in the war against crusaders."
>
>[...]