European leaders lined up yesterday to vigorously reject and denounce the offer, which came in an audiotape from the al-Qaeda mastermind that aired on the Arab satellite television station Al-Arabiya. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency said it believed the tape was genuine.
In it, Mr. bin Laden offers a "reconciliation initiative," to countries that will pull their troops out of Muslim lands, namely Iraq and Afghanistan. He said the "door to a truce is open for three months." And he warns that punishment like last month's Madrid train bombings will be meted out to countries that retain close alliance with Washington.
"For those who want reconciliation, we have given them a chance," he said.
"Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood. It is in your hands to apply this easy, yet difficult formula. You know that the situation will expand and increase if you delay things."
Yet while European politicians were quick to reject the idea of negotiating with a terrorist, Mr. bin Laden clearly was aiming at a much broader audience: European voters.
His goal is to profit from Europeans' increased fear of terrorism and simmering anti-American and anti-Israel sentiments, and to persuade them that they can sleep safer only if they split from Washington and Jerusalem.
Seeking to divide voters from their governments, and reminding them that most Europeans opposed the war in Iraq, Mr. bin Laden said it was important to remember that "injustice is inflicted on us and on you by your politicians, who send your sons, although they are opposed to this, to our countries to kill and be killed."
He denied that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and last month's Madrid bombings were the work of terrorists, arguing that they were simply payback for U.S. and Spanish actions in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. "What happened on Sept. 11 and March 11 was your goods delivered back to you," he said.
Al-Qaeda is evidently hoping for a repeat of the events in Spain, where the pro-U.S. government of Jose Maria Aznar lost last month's election to the anti-war Socialists in the emotional aftermath of the Madrid bombings, which killed 191 people.
Britain, Italy and Poland -- all U.S. allies with troops backing the occupation of Iraq -- were quick to condemn the offer as a sham and to rule out any talks with the radical Islamic militants who make up al-Qaeda.
"One has to treat such claims . . . by al-Qaeda with the contempt that they deserve," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. "This is a murderous organization which seeks impossible objectives by the most violent of means. It's yet another bare-faced attempt to divide the international community."
Poland also dismissed the bin Laden message. "It would be a big, big mistake if people buy that," Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said, after a meeting in London with Mr. Straw.
Italy, where the slaying in Iraq of one of four Italian civilian workers was the top news story yesterday, also condemned the idea of "reconciliation" with the terrorist group. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the idea of negotiating with al-Qaeda is "absolutely unthinkable."
French President Jacques Chirac, who opposed the U.S.-led war on Iraq, said during a visit to Algeria that "there is no negotiation possible with terrorists."
Germany, another opponent of the Iraq war, said it could never negotiate with "terrorists and criminals."
In Spain, the new government made it clear it wants nothing to do with al-Qaeda. "Those of us who seek peace, democracy and freedom do not need to listen or pay attention to him," said the incoming foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos.
Even if European governments were inclined to deal with Mr. bin Laden, there would be no guarantee that the al-Qaeda leader could deliver results. Terrorism experts widely believe that his network is a loose, franchise-like grouping where Islamic militants inspired by the bin Laden message plan and execute their own attacks, often with little direct input from the al-Qaeda leadership.
In the tape, Mr. bin Laden renewed his usual attack on Israel, Zionists and their U.S. backers and condemned last month's Israeli assassination of the "old, handicapped" Hamas spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, which drew widespread condemnation in Europe.
He also attacked the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for bringing "billions of dollars in profit" to arms suppliers and reconstruction contractors, specifically naming Halliburton Co., the oil-services firm that U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney once headed. Mr. Cheney left the company in the summer of 2000 to become George W. Bush's running mate.
