Bin Laden vows never to be captured alive

CAIRO, Egypt -- Osama bin Laden promised never to be captured alive and declared the United States had resorted to the same "barbaric" tactics used by Saddam Hussein, according to an audiotape purportedly by the al-Qaida leader that was posted today on a militant Web site.

The tape appeared to be a complete version of one that was first broadcast Jan. 19 on Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channel, in which bin Laden offered the United States a long-term truce but also said his al-Qaida terror network would soon launch a fresh attack on American soil.

"I have sworn to only live free. Even if I find bitter the taste of death, I don't want to die humiliated or deceived," bin Laden said, in the 11-minute, 26-second tape.

In drawing the comparison to American military behavior in Iraq to that of Saddam, the speaker said:

"The jihad is continuing with strength, for Allah be all the credit, despite all the barbarity, the repressive steps taken by the American Army and its agents, to the extent that there is no longer any mentionable difference between this criminality and the criminality of Saddam."

By using that language to describe Saddam, bin Laden appeared to be denying assertions by the Bush administration that the former Iraqi leader had ties to al-Qaida -- ties that were given as one rationale for invading Iraq.

In the full tape posted today, bin Laden engaged in renewed propaganda, mocking Bush's aircraft carrier declaration in April 2003 that major conflict in Iraq had ended.

"The Pentagon's figures indicate an increase in the number of your killed and injured in addition to the massive material losses, not to mention the collapse of troop morale and the increase of the suicide rates among them," the speaker said.

Speaking directly to the American people, he said:

"You can rescue whatever you can from this hell. The solution is in your hands, if their (U.S. troops') situation matters to you at all."

The initial excerpts had been the first tape from the al-Qaida leader in more than a year -- the longest period without a message since the Sept. 11, 2001 suicide hijackings in the United States.

The CIA last month authenticated the voice on the initial recording as that of bin Laden, an agency official told The Associated Press at the time. The al-Qaida leader is believed to be hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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Associated Press reporter Omar Sinan contributed to this report.