The head of the 22-member Arab League has rejected an appeal by accused terrorist Osama bin Laden for the world's Muslims to join a holy war against the United States and the West.
Arab League Secretary Amr Mussa says Osama bin Laden does not speak for Arabs or Muslims.
Meanwhile, Egypt's Foreign Minister, Ahmed Maher, said he believes Osama bin Laden is at war with the rest of the world. Mr. Maher also said Egypt supports the war against terrorism.
Mr. Maher and Mr. Mussa spoke Sunday in Damascus, where Arab League foreign ministers met for talks on the war against terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The two senior Arab officials were reacting to a message from Osama bin Laden broadcast Saturday on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television.
The Saudi exile called the U-S strikes in Afghanistan a religious war between Muslims and Christians, and he said Muslims who support the United States are in his words "infidels." The Afghan-based suspected terrorist also lashed out at the United Nations, saying the international organization has in his words become "a tool of crime against Muslims."
Earlier, the White House described the speech as "an act of desperation" by the man blamed for masterminding the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States.
In comments Saturday, a former chief of Saudi intelligence -- Prince Turky al-Faisal -- said Afghanistan's ruling Taleban agreed in June 1998 to extradite Osama bin Laden to Saudi Arabia, but reversed its decision three months later.