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Terror Leader Vows Battle to Death

Following previously released messages which have made his views known to the world, in an audiotape released on a website known for posting messages from Islamic terrorist groups Osama bin Laden vowed never to be captured alive and said the U.S. military had become as "barbaric" as Saddam Hussein. Bin Laden also denied Bush administration assertions that it was better to fight terrorists in Iraq than on U.S. soil.

In drawing the comparison to American military behavior in Iraq to that of Saddam, he says, "The jihad is ongoing, thank God, despite all the oppressive measures adopted by the U.S. Army and its agents which has reached a point where there is no difference between this criminality and Saddam`s criminality."

The tape was not new, but initially broadcast January 19 on Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channel. During its 11 minute, 26-second run time Bin Laden claimed that "I have sworn to only live free. Even if I find bitter the taste of death, I don`t want to die humiliated or deceived." In addition to criticism, bin Laden offered the United States a long-term truce - but also paradoxically said his al-Qaida terror network would soon launch a fresh attack on American soil.