United States can avoid another Sept. 11, bin Laden says.

Byline: Cam Simpson

Oct. 30--WASHINGTON -- In a video message aired Friday, just ahead of the presidential election, a healthy-looking Osama bin Laden warned that the U.S. can avoid "another Manhattan" if it changes its policies toward the Middle East and the Muslim world.

Although bin Laden mocked President Bush's response to the Sept. 11 attacks and compared the White House to corrupt Arab regimes, the Al Qaeda chief did not issue any explicit threats against American civilians or troops--at home or abroad.

Nor did bin Laden lace his message, which was broadcast by the Qatar-based satellite network Al Jazeera, with the kind of religious imagery that has dominated previous addresses.

Instead, appearing in a white shirt draped in a gold robe and sitting or standing erect behind what appeared to be a tabletop set against a plain brown curtain, the militant leader issued a familiar condemnation of U.S, policy, speaking of what he called the "American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon."

U.S. intelligence officials said they had a "high degree of confidence" that the tape, which they received in advance of Friday's broadcast, was authentic. Its apparent lack of any explicit threats also…