The White House continued today to say that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is losing support from the Arab street and is a figure on the decline in the Middle East.

White House press secretary Dana Perino today addressed the five-minute audio tape that is purported to be the voice of bin Laden threatening European countries for allowing newspapers to publish cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammad.

"In the tape, what Osama bin Laden was trying to do is to suggest that he stands for all Muslims, and I think that if you look at the facts across the board, especially what's happening in Al-Anbar province and across Iraq, that Arabs are starting to turn against them, and that is of huge strategic significance in the global war on terror," Mrs. Perino said.

President Bush yesterday referenced an "Arab uprising" against al Qaeda in Iraq that he said had "opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror."

— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times