Bin Laden 'personally approved' the foiled attacks on Britain

Intelligence experts launched investigations into reports on Friday that Osama bin Laden personally approved Mumbai-style attacks on Britain, France and Germany. Western intelligence agencies believe that a plot of the size proposed, originating in Pakistan, would have to have the go-ahead from the al-Qaida chief. Agents have made the assumption that bin Laden used couriers to send a message to al-Qaida followers telling them he would like to see a Mumbai-style attack on the three European targets. A U.S. official told The Daily Telegraph: "Senior al-Qaida terrorists have been involved in many recent attack-planning efforts. It wouldn't be surprising in the least if bin Laden were involved in some of that." If true, it would mean the al-Qaida chief was once again taking an operational role despite the risks to his life. The reports emerged as an 11-minute audio tape from bin Laden emerged on the Internet on Friday called "Reflections on the Method of Relief Work". The ambush plots were disrupted by drone attacks in Pakistan in recent days, according to security sources, killing a number of Britons. A second U.S. counter-terrorism source said the threat was "credible, but not specific". Western intelligence agencies have failed to get a fix on bin Laden since he walked into Pakistan as the U.S. attacked his hideout in the mountains of Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in December 2001. Leon Panetta, the head of the CIA, said in June that it was "the early 2000s" when they had "the last precise information about where he might be located". President Barack Obama said last month that pressure on the al-Qaida leadership meant that "they have been holed up in ways that have made it harder for them to operate". Bin Laden's message concentrated on global warming and the floods in Pakistan and focused away from terrorist attacks. "The number of victims caused by climate change is very big . . . bigger than the victims of wars," he said in his first public comments since a message emerged on March 25. "If governments spent only one per cent of what is spent on armies, they would change the face of the world for poor people." Over recent years, bin Laden has issued audio tapes but no videos, after it emerged that the CIA was trying to identify where he was hiding by looking at the vegetation in videos he had released. In more than 30 audio and video tapes, he has warned European countries and the U.S. about attacks and praised previous ones, although he has never talked of a preferred method. In his latest tape, bin Laden called for "serious and prompt action to provide relief" in Pakistan including tents, food and medicine but added that "disasters are much bigger than what is being offered". He also talked of creating development projects in impoverished regions and working on farming projects to guarantee food security. The audio tape was posted on Islamic militant websites where it played over a photograph of a smiling bin Laden superimposed over a picture of a man distributing aid.

The new leader of the All Pakistan Muslim League Musharraf

Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf apologized to Pakistan Friday for mistakes he made in office and said he would return to the country as the new head of a political party in time for elections due by 2013. Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, has lived in exile in London since quitting in 2008 to avoid impeachment. He would risk being arrested or killed if he returned. "I will be in Pakistan before the next election, whatever the dangers," he told a conference to launch his political career as the new leader of the All Pakistan Muslim League. Musharraf, who become embroiled in a row with the judiciary and briefly imposed a state of emergency in 2007, said he realized his popularity had plummeted because of some wrong decisions he had made in the last year of his presidency. "I take this opportunity to sincerely apologize to the whole nation for those wrong decisions," he told a meeting of several hundred supporters, which was also broadcast live on screens in the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Karachi. "I have learned my lessons and I am very sure I will not repeat them again." Lawyers say if he were to return to Pakistan Musharraf could face a number of court cases, including over the death of a Baluch separatist leader and violation of the constitution. He would also risk assassination by Islamist militants seeking revenge for crackdowns he ordered against them. But Musharraf said he believed his country was in danger and that as a "patriotic Pakistani" it was imperative to save it. He dismissed accusations against him as politically motivated. Pakistan has faced political instability, a wave of bombings by Islamist militants and most recently devastating floods. The government, led by the Pakistan People's Party of the late Benazir Bhutto -- whose husband Asif Ali Zardari is now president -- has struggled to cope with the multiple challenges. Political analysts, however, say Musharraf -- whose support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan was also deeply unpopular -- would have an uphill struggle to make much headway in politics. "Traditionally, military rulers have not succeeded in popular politics, including those who went to the opposition," said political analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi. "He'll have to come back and demonstrate his support. While sitting in London you can't really do politics."

Pakistan army chief demands removal of Zardari loyalists from cabinet

Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, has handed a list of corrupt or allegedly incompetent ministers to President Asif Ali Zardari, demanding their removal, according to western and Pakistani officials. The tension between Pakistan's civilian and military leaders is the latest political fallout from historic floods that have triggered stringent criticism of the government's handling of the crisis. Much of the controversy centres on Zardari, who brought scorn on himself by visiting a family chateau in France as the floods gathered pace in August – a move advisers admit was a public relations disaster. A senior western official confirmed reports that the army chief had asked the president to remove named loyalists from his 60-member cabinet as part of an internal reform process. The official did not give the requested names. Analysts said the army stance reflected a broader public impatience with the government's performance. An opinion poll taken last July gave Zardari a 20% popularity rating "The way things are configured now, everyone – the army, the institutions, the man on the street – would like to see some kind of shakeup in the current government," said Cyril Almeida of Dawn.com. But he added: "I don't think it will work. The more pressure you pile on Zardari, the more likely he is to dig in his heels." Over the past week the country's political classes have been seized by a wave of rumours about an army intervention in politics, ranging from the installation of a Bangladesh-style technocratic government, to the removal of Zardari, to a straightforward coup. A close Zardari aide denied that the army was pressuring the government. "It's absolute rubbish. This is a rumour-driven crisis, driven by those with a pathological hatred of president Zardari and the PPP. They have been predicting his downfall from the day he was elected. And they have been wrong," he said Some of the tension was punctured on Monday after Zardari and the prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, met the army chief, General Kayani, after which they released an anodyne statement about flood relief. Osama bin Laden waded into the debate yesterday, criticising relief efforts in Pakistan and calling for action against climate change. Describing the plight of Pakistanis after the floods, he said:"Millions of children are out in the open air, lacking basic elements of living, including drinking water, resulting in their bodies shedding liquids and subsequently their death." Zardari's woes are complicated by the hostility he faces from the chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry. Few see it as a coincidence that the supreme court this week resurrected its efforts to have Swiss authorities prosecute Zardari on corruption charges.