Audiotapes of Osama bin Laden examined

DAVIS, Calif., Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Osama bin Laden identified the United States as his top enemy before Iraq invaded Kuwait and U.S. forces were sent to the Arabian Peninsula, researcher say.

Flagg Miller of the University of California-Davis, who has been studying more than 1,500 audio cassette tapes taken in 2001 from bin Laden's former residential compound in Qandahar, Afghanistan, reveal the militant leader's intellectual development before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"Bin Laden did not start out at the top of this movement. He had to earn his way there, build his credibility," said Miller, a scholar of Arabic, said in a statement. "These cassettes help to tell us how he did that."

The tapes date from the late 1960s through 2000 and feature more than 200 speakers from more than a dozen countries. Twenty of the audio cassettes contain recordings of bin Laden; 12 include material previously unpublished in any language, Miller said.

Miller said in bin Laden's early recordings he sometimes called non-Muslims throughout the world "dogs," but also advised listeners to engage civilly with Western embassies by writing letters and organizing public demonstrations.

Miller's findings are to be presented in a lecture at the Center of Modern Oriental Studies in Berlin Sept. 18 and published in the October issue of the journal Language & Communication.