Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
(Baghdad, Iraq-AP) -- Iraq is again denying that it has any links with al-Qaida. In an interview today with Lebanese T-V, Iraq's vice president (Taha Ramadan) says his country hasn't sheltered any members of Osama bin Laden's terrorist group
He accuses the U-S of using the al-Qaida allegations as a pretext for war. And he says the U-S is looking for oil and wants to protect Israel.
U-S officials have said the latest audiotape attributed to bin Laden bolsters their case that al-Qaida has ties with Saddam Hussein.
The tape aired yesterday on the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera.
On it, the voice urges Iraqis to fight Americans by staging suicide attacks and luring troops into urban battles.
But the tape hasn't been reported on by Iraqi media -- and most Iraqis don't have satellite dishes.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
