Bin Laden's message a sign he's worried?

CAIRO - A day before President Barack Obama is to deliver a speech here seeking goodwill with the Islamic world, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden tried in a new message Wednesday to convince Muslims they should hate him.

The message was the second from al-Qaida in as many days criticizing Obama, a PR offensive that analysts said shows the terrorist organization worries the new president will succeed in improving America's image in the Muslim world and undermine the group's jihad, or holy war.

"Obama's election is just about the worst thing that could have happened to these guys," said Tom Sanderson, a terrorism expert at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "They knew right away that his election undermined a key part of their argument that the U.S. was anti-Islamic, that the U.S. was racist."

Obama met on Wednesday with Saudi King Abdullah during the first leg of his Mideast tour. Obama's speech at Cairo University on Thursday is part of a campaign to prove he differs from former President George W. Bush, whose invasion of Iraq and aggressive counterterrorism tactics stoked Muslim ire and helped al-Qaida rally support.

Al-Qaida has tried to counter that message by painting Obama as no different from Bush, highlighting U.S. involvement in the conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

Bin Laden says Obama inflamed hatred
In his audiotape, aired on Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden said Obama has inflamed hatred toward the U.S. by ordering Pakistan to crack down on militants and block Islamic law there.

He claimed U.S. pressure led to a campaign of "killing, fighting, bombing and destruction" that prompted the exodus of a million Muslims from the Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan. He was referring to a Pakistani military campaign against the Taliban that began in April, an indication the tape was made since then.

"Obama and his administration have sown new seeds to increase hatred and revenge on America," bin Laden said. "The number of these seeds is equal to the number of displaced people from Swat Valley."

Bin Laden did not specifically mention Obama's speech in his message. Al-Jazeera did not say how or when the tape was obtained, and its authenticity could not be immediately verified, though a senior U.S. official told NBC News they have to listen to the Bin Laden tape and are presuming it to be the al-Qaida leader. The offical points out that for all the speculation about bin Laden being alive or dead, "there's never been a fake bin Laden tape."

On Tuesday, al-Qaida's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, said in an audio message that Obama's upcoming speech would not change Muslim sentiment because of the "bloody messages" the U.S. military is sending in Afghanistan and Iraq.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, in Saudi Arabia with Obama, said al-Qaida wants "to shift attention away from the president's historic efforts ... (to) have an open dialogue with the Muslim world."

Obama popular in Mideast
Obama is popular in the Middle East, in part because of his friendly words toward Islam, his promises to withdraw from Iraq and his own personal background. Still many Arabs also remain skeptical how deeply he will change U.S. policy, which they see as biased toward Israel.

Sanderson said Obama's approach could make it harder for al-Qaida to recruit supporters and raise money.

"It starts to tighten up avenues for them for finance, for people, for information," said Sanderson.

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