Video: Bin Laden wanted to attack Iraq

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, July 10 (UPI) -- Osama bin Laden told supporters in Saudi Arabia he wanted to bring his fight against former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a video says.

A video released early Thursday contains a segment titled "Jihad and Martyrdom," which claims the al-Qaida leader approached the Saudi monarchy about bringing his mujahedin force to fight the regime of Saddam Hussein, the Italian news agency Adnkronos International said.

"Osama bin Laden tried to unite all the mujahedin to fight against the regime of Saddam Hussein, but Saudi Arabia prevented him from acting and allowed the Americans to enter their country," a statement featured on the video claims.

The video also said bin Laden warned Saudi officials that Saddam had planned to expand his influence by invading Kuwait, "but no one listened to him," the video claims.

A statement by an al-Qaida leader who acted in a recent suicide attack in Afghanistan, Abu al-Hasan al-Saidi, said al-Qaida was also behind attacks on U.S. forces in Somalia.

"At the time, Sheik Osama called on us to send our men to Somalia, and I trained the Somalis to fight," he said.

He also described returning to Afghanistan with bin Laden and his deputies following the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, saying bin Laden was warned of a possible attempt on his life.

"At the time, (Taliban leader) Mullah Omar sent a letter asking Osama to move from Jalalabad to Kandahar because there was someone who wanted to kill him in his training camp who was called Najm al-Jihad," Saidi said.

The video concluded with various al-Qaida fighters expressing praise for the courage Saidi expressed in his suicide operation.