Osama bin Laden has released a new audiotape called "An address to the American people by the Lion of Islam Sheikh Osama bin Laden (May Allah Protect Him)." The video is more than 11 minutes long; excerpts from Reuters appear below. In the tape, bin Laden attacks the US for its close ties to Israel and says the war will continue for as long as the US remains in Afghanistan and continues to support Pakistan.

The video was posted at Al Faloja, one of several popular jihadi forums that are used to disseminate al Qaeda's propaganda. Al Faloja, Shouraa, and Shumukh were offline for several days recently during the Sept. 11 timeframe, very likely due to a cyber attack. For more information on the forums, see this report at Jihadica as well as this report at Internet Haganah.

Bin Laden's tape was not disseminated at the newly restored Al Ikhlas forum, which had been down for more than a year. Jihadis believe the forum is a false flag operation by Western intelligence agencies.

Excerpts from the tape:

"The time has come for you to liberate yourselves from fear and the ideological terrorism of neo-conservatives and the Israeli lobby," Bin Laden's latest tape said.

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

....

"If you think about your situation well, you will know that the White House is occupied by pressure groups," Bin Laden said.

"Rather than fighting to liberate Iraq -- as Bush claimed -- it (the White House) should have been liberated."

....

"If you stop the war, then fine. Otherwise we will have no choice but to continue our war of attrition on every front... If you choose safety and stopping wars, as opinion polls show you do, then we are ready to respond to this."

"You have only changed the faces in the White House," he said, referring to Obama, who took office this year. "Obama is a weakened man. He will not be able to stop the war."