A flurry of telephone calls threatening the destruction of all U.S. embassies in Islamic nations within a week has prompted the State Department to alert all overseas diplomatic posts. The caller identified himself as the spokesman or interpreter for Osama Bin Laden. Bush administration officials said they could not authenticate the calls to The Associated Press, CNN and other news organizations over a few hours' span Thursday, but that all such reports are taken seriously. The U.S. embassies and consulates already are in a watchful mode. The caller to the AP said he was with Bin Laden on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Asked if he really was speaking for the Saudi expatriate, the caller replied, "Muslims don't lie."
Whereupon the AP guy squirted coffee out his nose and hung up on him.. |