Bin Laden praises God for attacks

CAIRO, Egypt -- Osama bin Laden praised God for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and swore America will never "dream of security" until "the infidels' armies leave the land of Muhammad," in a videotaped statement aired after the strike launched Sunday by the United States and Britain against Afghanistan.

The taped comments appeared to be made in daylight, which would mean that the video was recorded before the Sunday night attack on Afghanistan.

"There is America, hit by God in one of its softest spots. Its greatest buildings were destroyed, thank God for that. There is America, full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east. Thank God for that," bin Laden said in the video shown Sunday on Al-Jazeera, the Arabic satellite station.

"I swear by God ... neither America nor the people who live in it will dream of security before we live it in Palestine, and not before all the infidel armies leave the land of Muhammad, peace by upon him," bin Laden said in the tape aired Sunday.

Bin Laden's war on America has been fueled in part by anger over U.S. support for Israel and the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest shrines, including the tomb of the prophet Muhammad.

After the Sunday military action began, an official from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia said that both bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar survived the initial wave of the attack. There was no way to verify the statement.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said U.S. officials were skeptical of the bin Laden tape, noting that it showed bin Laden in daylight. Fleischer said he did not believe President Bush had seen the tape as of mid-afternoon.

"The Taliban and Osama bin Laden have said all kinds of things that are often at odds with reality," Fleischer said. "What he says is not as important as what he's done."

In the tape, bin Laden was shown dressed in fatigues and an Afghan headdress, sitting in a stone cave and flanked by two aides. It was the first time he has spoken himself about the Sept. 11 attacks, though he has issued denials of responsibility through intermediaries.

Bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, who also head the Egyptian militant group Islamic Jihad, appeared in the videotape at bin Laden's side.

"People of America, your government is leading you into a losing battle," al-Zawahri said.