CAIRO, June 3 (RIA Novosti) - Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has accused U.S. President Barack Obama of inflaming hatred towards the U.S. in the Muslim world in a recent video tape aired by the Al Jazeera TV channel on Wednesday.
The video coincided with the start of a Middle East tour by the U.S. leader who received a red carpet welcome from the Saudi King Abdullah. On Thursday Obama will arrive in Egypt, where he will address the world's Muslims with a reconciliation speech.
"He has followed the steps of his predecessor in antagonizing Muslims... and laying the foundation for long wars," the world's most wanted terrorist said in his speech.
Bin Laden blamed Obama for supporting Pakistan in its fight against the Taliban in the Swat Valley, which he said, "destroyed over a million Muslims in their own homes."
"Obama and his administration have sowed new seeds of hatred against America," he said. "Let the American people prepare to harvest the crops of what the leaders of the White House plant in the next years and decades."
AFP quoted a Saudi information ministry official as saying that the tape was "an act of desperation."
"They are still making their statements while hiding in a cave," the official added.
