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Bin Laden aims to bankrupt United States

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- The complete transcript of Osama bin Laden's most recent videotape reveals his intention to attempt to bankrupt the United States.

The Arabic-language network al-Jazeera aired portions of the videotape Friday, but released the full transcript of the tape on its Web site Monday to dispel rumors it had edited out direct threats.

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Among comments not released until Monday, bin Laden said: "We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy," adding it was "easy for us to provoke and bait this administration."

As part of the "bleed-until-bankruptcy plan," bin Laden cited a British estimate that it cost al-Qaida about $500,000 to carry out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, an amount he said paled in comparison with the costs incurred by the United States.

"Every dollar of al-Qaida defeated a million dollars, by the permission of Allah, besides the loss of a huge number of jobs," he said.

U.S. intelligence officials confirmed Monday the transcript made public Monday was a complete one, CNN reported.

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