Cairo, Egypt ? Osama bin Laden promised never to be captured alive and declared the U.S. had resorted to the same “repressive” tactics used by Saddam Hussein, according to an audiotape purportedly by the al-Qaida leader that was posted today on a militant Web site.

The tape appeared to be a complete version of one that was first broadcast Jan. 19 on Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite channel, in which bin Laden offered the United States a long-term truce but also said his al-Qaida terror network would soon launch a fresh attack on American soil.

“I have sworn to only live free. Even if I find bitter the taste of death, I don’t want to die humiliated or deceived,” bin Laden said.

In drawing the comparison to American military behavior in Iraq to that of Saddam, the speaker said:

“The jihad is continuing with strength, for Allah be all the credit, despite all the barbarity, the repressive steps taken by the American Army and its agents, to the extent that there is no longer any mentionable difference between this criminality and the criminality of Saddam.”

With the implied criticism of Saddam, bin Laden appeared to be denying assertions by the Bush administration that the former Iraqi leader had ties to al-Qaida – ties that were given as one rationale for invading Iraq.