60 Messages from bin Laden since 2001

60 Messages from bin Laden since 2001

Osama bin Laden broadcast more than 60 messages to the world since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

This is a timeline of the major statements attributed to bin Laden since 2001.

March 25, 2010

Osama bin Laden has in a new audio recording threatened to kill any Americans that al-Qaeda takes prisoner if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, considered as one of the masterminds behind the September 11 attacks, is executed.

"The day America will take such decision [to execute Mohammed and any others] it would have taken a decision to execute whoever we capture," Bin Laden says on the tape.

January 24, 2010

Al Jazeera obtains a purported audio tape of Osama bin Laden, in which he claims responsibility for the failed attack on a US airliner on December 25.

"The message I want to convey to you through the plane of the hero Omar Farouk [Abdulmutallab], reaffirms a previous message that the heroes of 9/11 conveyed to you," bin Laden says on the tape.

He warns there will be more attacks unless the US finds a solution to the Palestinian situation.

September 25, 2009

Bin Laden calls on European nations to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan in an audio tape, saying they were sacrificing men and money in an unjust US-led war.

The tape, released on the internet with a background picture of bin Laden, has German and English subtitles. The release of the message comes two days before Germany's general election.

September 14, 2009

Bin Laden says Barack Obama, the US president, is "powerless" to stop the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He warns the American people over their government's close ties to Israel, saying it is time for them to free themselves from the grip of neo-conservatives and the Israeli lobby.

"The reason for our dispute with you is your support for your ally Israel, occupying our land in Palestine," he says.

June 3, 2009

Bin Laden says in an audio message that Obama has planted the seeds of "revenge and hatred towards America" in the Muslim world and warned Americans to prepare for the consequences.

March 14, 2009

Bin Laden accuses moderate Arab leaders of plotting with the West against Muslims and being complicit with Israel in the 22-day offensive on Gaza, in an audio recording.

January 14, 2009

Bin Laden, in an audio recording, calls for a new "jihad" to end the Israeli war in Gaza.

He also calls on Muslims to rise in support of Gazans and not to rely on Arab leaders "the great majority of whom are allied with the Crusader-Zionist coalition".

May 18, 2008

Bin Laden urges Muslims to break the Israeli-led blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and fight Arab governments that deal with Israel, in an audiotape posted on the internet.

May 16, 2008

Bin Laden, in an audio tape message posted on the internet, addresses "Western peoples", and calls for the fight against Israel to continue and says the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the heart of the Muslim battle with the West.

March 19, 2008

In an audio recording, bin Laden threatens the European Union with grave punishment over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed.

He also says the best way for Muslims to help Palestinians is to support Iraqis fighting against the government and US forces.

November 29, 2007

Bin Laden urges European countries to end their alliance with US forces in Afghanistan.

September 7, 2007

Osama bin Laden appears in his first videotape in nearly three years, to mark the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

In a message to the American people, he threatens to escalate the war in Iraq and says the US is vulnerable despite its economic and military power.

May 23 2006

Bin Laden says he masterminded the September 11 attacks and that Zacarias Moussaoui, who was convicted for the attacks, had no part in them, in a recorded message posted on the internet.

January 19, 2006

Bin Laden threatens a fresh attack against the United States but offers the American people a conditional "long-term truce" in an audiotape message.

The tape came after more than a year of silence from the al-Qaeda leader.

April 15, 2004

Bin Laden delivers a message to European nations, saying, "I present a reconciliation initiative ... to stop operations against all [European] countries if they promise not to be aggressive towards Muslims".

October 18, 2003

Bin Laden speaks out against the Iraq war in an audiotape, saying: "We will go on fighting you and we will carry on martyrdom operations.

"We reserve the right to retaliate... against  all countries that take part in this unjust [Iraq] war, namely Britain, Spain, Australia, Poland, Japan and Italy".

September 9, 2002

In an audiotape, bin Laden evokes the attacks on New York and Washington, saying "we speak of the men who changed the course of history and cleansed the ... filth of treacherous rulers and their subordinates".

December 27, 2001

In a video tape, bin Laden says: "Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, which kills our people".

October 7, 2001

Bin Laden claims "America has been hit by Allah at its most vulnerable point, destroying, thank God, its most prestigious buildings", in an audiotape referencing the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.

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