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Roemer statement on new Bin Laden tape

For Immediate Release
1/14/2008

Contact: Liz Packard
(202) 682 - 1800

CNP President Tim Roemer released the following statement today after reports of the release of a new tape from Osama Bin Laden:

"These tapes really bring home just how difficult a set of issues President-elect Obama will be inheriting when he is sworn in next week.  As this incident reminds us, Osama Bin Laden remains at large and Al Qaeda is now stronger than at any point since 9/11, according to our own intelligence reports.  

"While questions persist as to Bin Laden's operational control at the moment, there is no doubt that he still maintains a motivational appeal to many across the Muslim world, and his statements regarding the current situation between Israel and Hamas displays an attempt to leverage that motivational status into relevance in this conflict.  

"We must not forget that this battle against groups like Al Qaeda will be fought on a variety of different fronts, many of them non-military.  Al Qaeda has shown itself adept at communications maneuvers, and we must do a better job of spreading a message of hope to the people of the Middle East and defining Al Qaeda in order to drown out the voices of violent extremists."

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