Message #203163

[Jenna Bluehut]

Directing his statements at President Barack Obama – "from Osama to Obama," he said – bin Laden added: "America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine."

The message, which White House officials said could not immediately be authenticated, raised again the question of how much of a link exists between al-Qaida's top leadership along the Afghan-Pakistani border and the handful of loosely affiliated groups operating in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa and Iraq.

The al-Qaida leader, who was last heard from in September, seemed intent on showing he remains more than an ideological figurehead, as most analysts have suggested he has become during the terror network's evolution into decentralized offshoots. But some questioned whether al-Qaida's core leadership was involved.

"They weren't putting the final touches on this operation," said Evan Kohlmann, a senior investigator for the New York-based NEFA Foundation, which researches Islamic militants.

Still, the Saudi and Yemeni leaders of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which formed in Yemen a year ago, have a long history of direct personal contact with bin Laden. It is plausible that – if they were able to – they would have informed bin Laden of the airliner plot and sought his approval, Kohlmann said.

The Yemen-based group's leader, Nasir al-Wahishi, was once bin Laden's personal secretary, and its top military commander, Qassim al-Raimi, trained in bin Laden's main camp in Afghanistan, Kohlmann said.

Two of the group's top members were detainees at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. military prison who were released in November 2007.

The Yemen offshoot is largely self-sustaining, with its own theological figures, bomb makers and a network for funneling in recruits.

"The training and the definition of the attack was by the local leaders of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula," said Rohan Gunaratna, author of "Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror."

"So, in many ways you can say bin Laden is exploiting for his benefit this particular attack. Bin Laden still wants to claim leadership for the global jihad movement."

U.S. investigators say the Nigerian suspect in the Dec. 25 attempted bombing told them he had been trained in Yemen and given the explosives there by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

Abdulmutallab is accused of attempting to blow up the plane with an explosive powder hidden in his underwear as the aircraft approached Detroit Metro Airport. The device failed to detonate.