Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has threatened to launch new terrorist attacks against the United States.
In an audiotape aired on the Arab-language satellite television channel Al Jazeera, Bin Laden claimed responsibility for "the explosions in major European capitals" – an apparent reference to the terrorist attacks in London in July 2005 and Madrid in March 2004. The terrorist leader then said: "The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures. The operations are under preparation, and you will see them in your houses as soon as they are complete."
Responding to the al Qaida leader's threats, White House spokesman Scott McClellan says that the United States is acting "on all fronts" to win the war on terrorism:
"We are taking the fight to the enemy; we are working to advance freedom and democracy, to defeat their evil ideology. We are winning. Clearly, al Qaida and the terrorists are on the run. And that is why it is important that we do not let up, and that we do not stop until the job is done. And that's what we will do."
President George W. Bush has said that al Qaida and other radical Islamist groups adhere to an ideology that "exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision: the establishment, by terrorism and subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom." White House spokesman Scott McClellan says that the terrorists want to drive the United States and its allies out of the Middle East:
"They know that the United States remaining involved in the Middle East is a threat to their ambitions. We know that they want to continue to try to create a safe haven to where they can plan and plot attacks. But we've got them on the run."
In his latest audiotape, Osama bin Laden offered what he called a "long-term truce based on just conditions." The United States, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan, does not negotiate with terrorists.
The preceding was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States Government.
