Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has said that his outfit would not have launched the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York had the United States not supported Israel and prevented 'some other injustices against the Muslim world'.
In a new audio tape, released on jihadist forums two days after the eight anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Osama advises how the conflict between Al-Qaeda and the US may come to a close.
His 11 minute, 20 second speech, titled, 'Message to the American People', explains the cause of Al-Qaeda's attacks in New York and Washington and puts the blame on pro-Israel lobby and not Islamic militants for pushing on with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
'If you think about your situation well, you will know that the White House is occupied by pressure groups. Rather than fighting to liberate Iraq -- as Bush claimed -- it (the White House) should have been liberated,' Osama is reported to have said.
IntelCenter, which translated the audio tape along with the SITE Intelligence Group, said the message consisted of a still image of Bin Laden with a voice track underneath, The New York Times reported.
Osama bin Laden had last issued a tape on June 3, accusing US President Barack Obama of 'antagonising Muslims' and asserting that his Pakistan policy had generated 'new seeds of hatred and revenge against America'.
'He has followed the steps of his predecessor in antagonising Muslims and laying the foundation for long wars,' Bin Laden said, referring to ongoing military offensive against Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists in the restive Swat valley in Pakistan.
'Let the American people prepare to harvest the crops of what the leaders of the White House plant in the next years and decades,' he had said.
