THE new video message from Osama bin Laden blasting capitalism and the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan appeared on militant Islamist Web sites Saturday, a day after it was released by a U.S.-based terrorist monitoring organization.

A note accompanying the video explained it had been a conscious decision to release the video to television channels before posting it on Web sites, the traditional means al-Qaida has used to disseminate its message.

In the video, bin Laden makes no overt threats and does not directly call for attacks. Instead, he addresses Americans, telling them the Iraq war has failed and urges them to turn away from capitalism and convert to Islam.

His emergence Friday comes at a time when intelligence experts believe bin Laden’s network is regrouping in the lawless Pakistan-Afghanistan border region — and it underlines the U.S. failure to catch him.

In the video, bin Laden attacked capitalism, multinational corporations and globalization.

Among other things, he chastises American voters for claiming to be “innocent” while at the same time re-electing President George W. Bush “to continue to murder our people in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

He also derides American democracy, noting voters elected a Democratic majority in Congress in order to end the war.

“But the Democrats haven’t made a move worth mentioning,” he said. “On the contrary, they continue to agree to the spending of tens of billions to continue the killing and war there. . . .”

(SD-Agencies)