Osama Urges US to Convert

The first video of Osama Bin Laden in 3 years appears authentic, and he issues "no overt threat" but does call the US unjust, chides Americans for re-electing George Bush, and says the war in Iraq can only end with American defeat—or Americans converting to Islam, which he invites them to do. The video was leaked to the US government and has not yet gone public, the AP reports.

As soon as word got out that the US had the video, Islamic militant websites went down. Terrorist experts suspect that al-Qaeda ordered the shutdown to figure out how the video leaked. While some doubt the video's authenticity, it references current events in the Iraq war, and no prior al-Qaeda transmission has proved false. (More September 11 stories.)