ABC Airs Videotape of Man Making Al Qaeda Threat

Top News Article | Reuters.com: “WASHINGTON (Reuters) – ABC News on Thursday broadcast a videotape it obtained last week of an English-speaking man who threatens bloody new al Qaeda attacks on the United States, but the network said U.S. intelligence officials could not authenticate the man’s voice.

‘U.S intelligence officials say while they still cannot authenticate the voice on the tape, it has all the trademarks of an al Qaeda production,’ ABC News said.

It said the voice of the speaker, identified as ‘Assam the American,’ did not match that of any known American al Qaeda suspects.

But ABC said the U.S. government was taking the tape seriously and had given copies of it to 13 current and former U.S. officials mentioned by the speaker. These included President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. “