The leader of Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, has taken responsibility for the attempt to bomb Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day. This was done through an audio tape which was broadcast Sunday on Arab television. U.S. intelligence officials, however, were skeptical about how significant a role Bin Laden did play in the planning of the failed attack, although they did not express any doubts on the authenticity of the tape.

According to a report on the Los Angeles Times, Bin Laden claimed that his group backed the failed attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up the commercial flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. In addition, he pledged to continue to launch terrorists attacks against the United States unless it stops supporting what he referred to as the “unjust treatment of Palestinians” in Israel, speaking directly to President Barack Obama.

An excerpt of the statement is as follows: “From Osama to Obama: Peace upon the one who follows guidance. America will not dream of security until we experience it as a reality in Palestine.” The statement was broadcast on pan-Arab Al Jazeera satellite news channel, and an image of Osama Bin Laden was displayed as he spoke.

There is no evidence that Abdulmutallab went to Pakistan to prepare for his “mission,” although U.S. agencies have admitted to missing significant clues that had surfaced last year which pointed to the development of a terrorist plot in Yemen.

Bin Laden also likened Abdulmutallab to the suicide bombers who carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks. It is said that the latter received instructions for the bombing “from a cleric in Bin Laden’s home of Yemen.”