European governments yesterday derided an apparent offer from Osama bin Laden to call a truce in al-Qaeda activity "north of the Mediterranean sea" if states pulled their troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan within three months.
The CIA said last night that the taped statement was likely to be the voice of the fugitive leader and that the message "appears to be intended to drive a wedge between Europe and the US . . . and it's a propaganda ploy to bolster the morale of its followers."
In the recording, bin Laden goes out of his way to distinguish Europeans from the "White House gang" which it accused of pursuing a war in the interests of war profiteers like the "Halliburton company, its sisters and daughters".
If the tape is authentic, bin Laden is still alive - the statement refers to recent events - despite an intensifying US manhunt. The statement described the Madrid bombings of March 11th as a retaliation for Spanish participation in the US-led military coalition. Similar threats in the past have been followed by attacks.
European politicians yesterday unanimously dismissed any notion of negotiations with al-Qaeda.
The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, said: "One has to treat such proposals with the contempt they deserve."
President Jacques Chirac of France ruled out any negotiations with terrorists, as did the new socialist government of Mr Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Spain. The Italian Foreign Minister, Mr Franco Frattini, said a peace deal with bin Laden would be "unthinkable". Germany also reacted with disdain. "There can be no negotiations with terrorists and serious criminals," a spokesman said.
The tape addressed Europeans as "our neighbours north of the Mediterranean" and was, the statement claimed, "in response to the positive interaction shown by recent events and opinion polls, which indicate that most European peoples want peace.
- (Guardian Service)