Posted on 10/31/2004 6:48:42 PM PST by twntaipan
The tape of Osama bin Laden that was aired on Al-Jazeera(1) on Friday, October 29th included a specific threat to "each U.S. state," designed to influence the outcome of the upcoming election against George W. Bush. The U.S. media in general mistranslated the words "ay wilaya" (which means "each U.S. state")(2) to mean a "country" or "nation" other than the U.S., while in fact the threat was directed specifically at each individual U.S. state. This suggests some knowledge by bin Laden of the U.S. electoral college system. In a section of his speech in which he harshly criticized George W. Bush, bin Laden stated: "Any U.S. state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security."
The Islamist website Al-Qal'a explained what this sentence meant: "This message was a warning to every U.S. state separately. When he [Osama Bin Laden] said, 'Every state will be determining its own security, and will be responsible for its choice,' it means that any U.S. state that will choose to vote for the white thug Bush as president has chosen to fight us, and we will consider it our enemy, and any state that will vote against Bush has chosen to make peace with us, and we will not characterize it as an enemy. By this characterization, Sheikh Osama wants to drive a wedge in the American body, to weaken it, and he wants to divide the American people itself between enemies of Islam and the Muslims, and those who fight for us, so that he doesn't treat all American people as if they're the same. This letter will have great implications inside the American society, part of which are connected to the American elections, and part of which are connected to what will come after the elections."(3)
Another interesting aspect of the speech is the fact that while bin Laden made his specific threat to each U.S. state, he also offered an election deal to the American voters, attempting to influence the election by these means rather than influencing it through terrorist attacks.(4) This peace offer is a theme that follows up on his April speech directed to Europe, in which he offered a truce.(5) The Islamist website Al-Islah explains: "Some people ask 'what's new in this tape?' [The answer is that] this tape is the second of its kind, after the previous tape of the Sheikh [Osama bin Laden], in which he offered a truce to the Europeans a few months ago, and it is a completion of this move, and it brings together the complementary elements of politics and religion, political savvy and force, the sword and justice. The Sheikh reminds the West in this tape of the great Islamic civilization and pure Islamic religion, and of Islamic justice..."(6)
Another conspicuous aspect of the tape is the absence of common Islamist themes that are relevant to the month of Ramadan, which for fundamentalists like bin Laden is the month of Jihad and martyrdom. Noticeably absent from the Al-Jazeera tape was his usual appearance with a weapon, and more importantly the absence of references to Jihad, martyrdom, the Koran, the Hadith (Islamic tradition), Crusaders, Jews, and the legacy of the Prophet Muhammad on the duty to wage Jihad against the infidels. For the followers of the Al-Qa'ida ideology, this speech sends a regressive and defeatist message of surrender, as seen in the move from solely using Jihad warfare to a mixed strategy of threats combined with truce offers and election deals.
The following are the relevant excerpts from the speech; for the full excerpts visit the MEMRI TV Project at www.memritv.org:(7)
"Oh the American people, I address these words to you regarding the optimal manner of avoiding another Manhattan, and regarding the war, its causes, and its consequences. But before this, I say to you: Security is one of the important pillars of human life, and free men do not take their security lightly, contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom. Let him explain why we did not attack Sweden, for example. Clearly, those who hate freedom have no pride, unlike the 19 [suicide hijackers of 9/11], may Allah have mercy on them. We have been fighting you because we are free men who do not remain silent in the face of injustice. We want to restore our [Islamic] nation's freedom. Just as you violate our security, we violate yours.
"But I am amazed at you. Although we have entered the fourth year after the events of 9/11, Bush is still practicing distortion and deception against you and he is still concealing the true cause from you. Consequently, the motives for its reoccurrence still exist...
"We had no difficulty dealing with Bush and his administration, because it resembles the regimes in our [Arab] countries, half of which are ruled by the military, and the other half are ruled by the sons of kings and presidents with whom we have had a lot of experience. Among both types, there are many who are known for their conceit, arrogance, greed, and for taking money dishonestly.
"This resemblance began with the visit of Bush Sr. to the region. While some of our people were dazzled by the U.S. and hoped that these visits would influence our countries, it was he who was influenced by these monarchic and military regimes. He envied them for remaining in their positions for decades, while embezzling the nation's public funds with no supervision whatsoever. He bequeathed tyranny and the suppression of liberties to his son and they called it the Patriot Act, under the pretext of the war on terrorism.
"Bush Sr. liked the idea of appointing [his] sons as state governors. Similarly, he did not neglect to import into Florida the expertise in falsifying [elections] from the leaders of this region in order to benefit from it in difficult moments.
"We agreed with the general commander Muhammad Atta, may Allah have mercy on him, that all operations should be carried out within 20 minutes, before Bush and his administration would become aware. We never imagined that the Commander in Chief of the American armed forces would abandon 50,000 of his citizens in the twin towers to face this great horror alone when they needed him most. It seemed to him that a girl's story about her goat and its butting was more important than dealing with planes and their 'butting' into skyscrapers. This allowed us three times the amount of time needed for the operations, Allah be praised.
"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or Al-Qa'ida. Your security is in your own hands, and any U.S. state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security."
* Yigal Carmon is the President of MEMRI.
Endnotes: (1) Al-Jazeera (Qatar), October 27, 2004. (2) "Wilaya" refers specifically to a U.S. state; it would never refer to an independent country. The term for such a country is "Dawla." (3) https://www.qal3ati.com/vb/showthread.php?t=115812 (4) To illustrate this principle, he uses Sweden as a model of a country that was never attacked by Al-Qa'ida. (5) See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 695, April 15, 2004, "Osama Bin Laden Speech Offers Peace Treaty with Europe, Says Al-Qa'ida 'Will Persist in Fighting' the U.S." http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP69504 (6) www.islahi.net/vboard/showthread.php?t=116432 (7) To view the full tape aired on Al-Jazeera or read the transcript, visit http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=312 .
They will promise you the moon, but will kill you anyway if they get a chance. They promised their God to kill everyone that is not a Muslim. What is the greater promise, the one to their intended victim or their promises to their God?
Dead terrorists are not a threat.
So, osama is the extortionist, and Mr. Kerry is the bag man? Or am I missing something here?
BTW, giving in to blackmail of any kind is the surest way to be blackmailed again, and again...
Democrat voter intimidation...we will simply kill you via terrorist act if you vote for Bush
Kerry sounds like Bin Laden...
"But I am amazed at you. Although we have entered the fourth year after the events of 9/11, Bush is still practicing distortion and deception against you and he is still concealing the true cause from you. Consequently, the motives for its reoccurrence still exist..."
--John Kerry, no wait Bin Laden
"He also accused President Bush of "misleading" the American people three years since the 2001 suicide airline hijackings that hit the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon."
--John Kerry, no wait Bin Laden
Bumping this reality.
I have been posting the link all morning and sending it out in my emails.
Yes, even according to reputable media outlets, it does seem that yet another foreign leader has endorsed Kerry. I stand corrected.
I don't remember any warnings before Madrid, but you may be right. However, I don't count spending 8 years ranting about the U.S. prior to 9/11 being a "warning."
As I said, no one was listening for eight years. Bin Laden has always had the same grievances for years and we just blew it off. You have to read between the lines and really anlayze what he is saying.
Do you believe that we should have listened to them and talked with him, and maybe altered policies?
OK, glad to know that! And thank you for taking the time to explain.
Sure, anytime. There is a book out (Imperial Hubris)that puts forth a good argument about what Bin Laden is about and how this has transformed beyond terrorism into an insurgency. At first, it seems as if the guy likes Bin Laden and is giving him stature but you have to read through the beginning of the book to get into his point. It's worth a read and you can draw your own conclusions. I find that it tracks fairly well with my experiences and things I have learned since September 2001.
Thanks, but I'm going to pass on that book by an Israel-hater.
I didn't get that out of the book and I don't know who actually wrote it, so I can't really comment on that.
I read the name of the guy, but have forgotten it. And people whom I trust have read it and commented on that.
Looks like NY is safe while I and many more in Ohio taunt Al Queda, hey Osmama Yomama "bring it on"
Maybe they are referring to his supposition that US support of Israel no longer has National Security implications for the US now as it did during the Cold War. I didn't get that he was against support of Israel, but just laying out the realities of the conflict and the cost of our support. I guess it all depends on how you read it.
Don't mess with California, uhhmm, oh, nevermind. Abdul, please be nice to us Abdul, please....we've got wine and organic cheese...
I am thoroughly embarrassed that my state will, essentially, vote the way UBL wants us to vote. And when Kerry wins NY, that bastard is going to claim that what he did on 9/11/01 cowed us into submission.
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