DUBAI - A taped message believed to be from fugitive militant Osama bin Laden on Tuesday warned Arab nations against supporting a war against Iraq as threatened by the United States -- but branded Saddam Hussein an infidel.

Osama bin Laden is seen in this April 1998 photo. The al-Jazeera Arab satellite station broadcast a new audio statement from bin Laden on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003, in which he expresses solidarity with the Iraqi people but labels Saddam Hussein an 'infidel'. A broadcast editor at al-Jazeera said the tape appears to be authentic because the television station got it through the same means as previous bin Laden statements.(AP Photo/file)

In a broadcast coinciding with a major Muslim festival that prompted tight security in the United States and Britain to avert possible attacks, the man blamed for September 11 urged Muslims to fight America and repel any war against Iraq.

"We stress the importance of martyrdom (suicide) attacks against the enemy. These attacks inflicted on America and Israel a disaster they have never experienced before," said the statement, broadcast on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite television channel.

Any Arab ruler supporting America or providing logistical or verbal backing for a war on Iraq would be "an apostate whose blood should be spilled," it said.

The broadcast coincided with the start of the three-day Muslim Eid al-Adha festival marking the end of the annual Haj -- the pilgrimage to Mecca.

U.S. officials said the tape was probably genuine, the strongest evidence so far that bin Laden survived the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan to drive out the Taliban government and the al Qaeda network of the Saudi-born militant.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the tape corroborated the allegations that Secretary of State Colin Powell made to the U.N. Security Council last week to justify U.S. threats to go to war against Iraq -- that al Qaeda and the Iraqis were in contact and cooperating.

But the statement did not express support for Saddam. It said Muslims should support the Iraqi people rather than the country's government.

Concern that the United States has not made a valid case for war against Iraq has already divided the NATO Western alliance, with France, Germany and Belgium refusing to back preparations to assist fellow-member Turkey in the event of war.

A NATO official in Brussels said after two days of deadlock that efforts to break the impasse in the alliance would continue through the night, with a meeting of its North Atlantic Council set for 3:45 a.m. EST on Wednesday.

While urging Muslims to support the Iraqi people and repel any attack on their country, the tape said Saddam's secular "socialist" government had lost credibility.

"Socialists are infidels wherever they are," the statement said. But it added: "It does not hurt that in current circumstances, the interests of Muslims coincide with the interests of the socialists in the war against crusaders."

BROADCAST FOLLOWS SENATE TESTIMONY

While urging Muslims to support the Iraqi people and repel any attack on their country, the tape said Saddam's secular "socialist" government had lost credibility. "Socialists are infidels wherever they are," the statement said. But it added: "It does not hurt that in current circumstances, the interests of Muslims coincide with the interests of the socialists in the war against crusaders."

The United States accuses Baghdad of having biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programs and has said it is prepared to disarm Iraq by force without further U.N. approval if necessary. Iraq denies the allegations.

The broadcast followed testimony to the U.S. Senate intelligence committee in which CIA director George Tenet said there had been specific threats of attacks in the next few days.

These included targets in the United States or on the Arabian peninsula using a radioactive "dirty bomb" or poisons, Tenet said.

He said information came from several sources with "strong al Qaeda ties" and the U.S. security alert had been raised to Orange, its second highest level.

Staunch U.S. ally Britain dramatically stepped up security at London's major Heathrow airport on Tuesday.

Hundred of troops were drafted in what a police source said was partly a precaution against an al Qaeda rocket attack on a plane. Troops were also called to other sites in London. A police statement said attacks might be linked to Eid al-Adha.

Serious Western differences over Iraq had already been laid bare on Monday as France, Germany and Belgium held up military deployments for NATO member Turkey intended to protect it from Iraqi retaliation if U.S. troops attack Iraq from Turkish soil.

They argued, to U.S. annoyance, that to send surveillance planes, Patriot missiles and anti-chemical and biological warfare teams to Turkey would be a premature signal that war had begun and diplomatic efforts had ended.

France insisted on its solidarity with Turkey but said Paris had to base its approach on November's U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, which sent U.N. arms inspectors back to Iraq.

Russia and China have backed the French insistence that arms inspectors be given more time to investigate Iraq's alleged banned weapons programs, with war only as a last resort.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, visiting Paris, told French television: "It would be a grave error if unilateral actions were taken outside the framework of international law."

The threat of war is already affecting the global economy.

In Washington, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the uncertainties posed "formidable barriers" to business spending and made it hard to gauge the state of the U.S. economy.

Germany pushed for a European plan to confront economic weakness that is threatening to push it into another recession -- which an Iraq war would exacerbate.

Oil prices rose to two-year highs after the head of the world's biggest oil company, Exxon Mobil Corp, said U.S. strategic reserves should not be used to curb prices.

SADDAM ON TELEVISION

In Iraq, Saddam was shown on television receiving officials to mark the Eid al-Adha holiday.

"I could not wish for a greater, higher or better state that we are in...of Iraqi men and women and their growing readiness and ability to confront evil" in attacking Iraq, he said.

A personal peace envoy from Pope John Paul arrived in Baghdad with a message to Saddam "crucial for peace in Iraq" and was due to meet Iraqi officials on Wednesday.

The U.S. military said aircraft taking part in U.S.-British patrols over north and south Iraq attacked and destroyed a mobile Ababil-100 surface-to-surface missile and support vehicles. There was no immediate report from Baghdad.

The European Union, which includes many NATO member states, announced meanwhile that heads of state and government would gather for a summit on Iraq in Brussels next Monday.

Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd

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