White House on bin Laden: New Tape, Same Rhetoric

The White House isn't remotely fazed by the inflammatory rhetoric spewed by Osama bin Laden in his latest video tirade.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters following the president in Riyadh, "I don't think it's surprising that Al Qaeda would wanna shift attention away from the president's historic efforts... to reach out and have an open dialogue with muslim world."

No sooner did President Obama touch down on Saudi Arabian soil than did the country's most infamous national release a video designed to test the American president's mettle.

In remarks first aired by Arab TV network Al-Jazeera, Osama bin Laden painted President Obama as every bit as oppressive as his predecessor, George W. Bush.

The US government is still reviewing the video to see if it's truly bin Laden, though as Fox's Catherine Herridge reports, there's never been a fake bin Laden video.

In the video, Bin Laden accused the president of stoking hatred of America by ordering Pakistan to crack down on militants in its Swat Valley region. Those actions caused an exodus of civilian Muslims, whom bin Laden described as fleeing the "killing, fighting, bombing and destruction."

President Obama's envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, happened to be in Islamabad when the video was released. Bin Laden's accusations gave him not a moment of pause, "The idea that anyone is responsible for the refugee crisis other than al-Qaida and the Taliban and the other people that have caused such tragedy in Pakistan is ludicrous." Holbrooke was speaking alongside Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

The United States has admitted using unmanned aerial drones to assist in routing out Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Gibbs says the White House has not had an opportunity to review the video in its entirety. However, he says, all indications so far are that this is the same type of Al Qaeda threat against the US and other countries that is common when those countries are engaging in counter-terrorism efforts.

The release of the bin Laden's video was clearly intended to have an impact on Muslim sentiment at a time when Obama is carrying out a well-crafted and highly visible effort to sway that sentiment towards the United States.

He's slated to make a speech in Cairo Thursday aimed at smoothing the seams in US-Muslim relations, marking what White House aides say will be a "new chapter of engagement between the US and the Muslim world."