Bin Laden tape dropoff taunts Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The envelope containing terror mastermind Osama bin Laden's latest message to the world was dropped into a letter box in an upscale neighborhood of the Pakistani capital, the second purported al-Qaida video to come out of this nation in little over a week.

Officials cautioned Saturday that the tape's release to the Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera's Islamabad office does not prove that bin Laden is in Pakistan.

But its appearance was nonetheless an embarrassment to a nation that bills itself as a key ally in Washington's war on terror and that has spent months focusing its troops on a swath of tribal communities along the Afghan-Pakistan border where the fugitive al-Qaida leader has reputedly been hiding.

Pakistan has sent tens of thousands of troops to the long and porous border with Afghanistan, concentrating on forbidding North and South Waziristan, where bin Laden and his top deputy, Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding.

Scores of soldiers and civilians have been killed, but the operations so far have not netted any major fugitives, leading to charges that the sweeps are conducted as a political show to curry favor with Washington, which has given Islamabad billions of dollars in aid since President Gen. Pervez Musharraf threw his support behind the antiterror effort.

Pakistani officials were quick to move into damage-control mode Saturday, saying they had no idea how Al-Jazeera got the tape, and that its existence did not prove bin Laden was there.

In Afghanistan, the U.S. military dismissed the videotape as "propaganda" and said bin Laden would be caught. U.S. military spokesman Maj. Scott Nelson said the military still suspected he could be somewhere near the Afghan-Pakistan border.

"If we knew exactly where he was, we would be there in a moment and we would have a very happy day and a happy election," Nelson said.

Talat Massood, a defense analyst and former Pakistani general, said that bin Laden probably was in Pakistan, despite the official denials, and that he could be either in the sprawling Pakistani port city of Karachi or well cared for by followers in the tribal region.

"The fact that he has the courage to come out shows that he feels protected in his surroundings," Massood said. His healthy appearance "shows that he is probably living in reasonable comfort and he is being taken care of."

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration left the terror threat level unchanged Saturday, despite warning state and local officials that a videotape message from Osama bin Laden may portend a new terrorist attack.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge urged Americans to go ahead with plans to vote Tuesday without undue concern.

Ridge's department and the FBI had issued a memo late Friday to local and state officials, hours after the new tape surfaced.

"We remain concerned about al-Qaida's interest in attacking the American homeland, and we cannot discount the possibility that the video may be intended to promote violence or serve as a signal for an attack," it said.

While Ridge sought to convey reassurance, he also said the government would strengthen antiterrorism measures.

"In the hours and the days ahead, we'll increase our Coast Guard patrols of the harbors. We'll change some of the inspection protocols at our ports of entry and our airports. We'll work with our cities to reroute, as we've done from time to time in the past, hazard material, be it in truck or railroads, around some of our major urban areas," Ridge said.

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