Posted on 01/23/2005 3:40:23 AM PST by RobFromGa
Purported Al-Zarqawi Tape Declares War on Democracy
Sunday, January 23, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq — A speaker purporting to be Iraq's most feared terror leader declared a "fierce war" on democracy and said in an audiotape posted Sunday on the Web that the Americans were using next weekend's Iraqi elections to install the Shiites in power.
"We have declared a fierce war on this evil principle of democracy and those who follow this wrong ideology," said the speaker, who identified himself as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (search), head of the Al Qaeda (search) affiliate in Iraq. "Anyone who tries to help set up this system is part of it."
The speaker said candidates running in the Jan. 30 elections are "demi-idols" and those who vote for them "are infidels." U.S. and Iraqi officials fear insurgent attacks and have announced massive security measures to protect voters.
"You have to be careful of the enemy's plan to implement so-called democracy in your country," he added. He said the Americans have engineered the election "to make Shiites dominate the regime in Iraq. Four million Shiites were brought from Iran to take part in the elections to achieve their aim of winning" most of the positions.
***snip****
The authenticity of the tape could not be determined but the voice appeared to be that of al-Zarqawi. It was the second voice tape posted on Islamic Web sites this week purporting to be al-Zarqawi, responsible for numerous car-bombings and beheadings foreign and Iraqi hostages over the past months.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Al-Zarqawi is issuing statements from his holding cell?
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has declared "bitter war" on Iraq's landmark elections in a warning intended to scare away voters a week before they go to the polls amid a raging insurgency.
The shadowy Jordanian militant, who tops America's wanted list in Iraq, berated the country's Shi'ite majority as "infidels" for embracing the election and urged Saddam Hussein's once-dominant Sunni minority to wage a holy fight against it.
"We have declared a bitter war against the principle of democracy and all those who seek to enact it," a speaker identified as Zarqawi said in an audio tape on the Internet on Sunday.
"Candidates in elections are seeking to become demi-gods while those who vote for them are infidels. And with God as my witness, I have informed them (of our intentions)," he said.
Zarqawi's network has targeted politicians and beheaded foreign hostages. Despite a $25 million (13.4 million pounds) U.S. bounty on his head he has eluded a U.S.-led manhunt and continues to thumb his nose at American troops.
His group's almost daily attacks -- including most of the deadliest in the countdown to the ballot -- have raised fears of a bloodbath during next Sunday's election, Iraq's first since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam.
Sunni guerrillas have stepped up their campaign of intimidation in the final days before the election, which is expected to cement the newfound power of Iraq's 60 percent Shi'ite majority, long oppressed under Saddam.
Many Sunni leaders have called for an election boycott, saying raging violence in the Sunni heartland will prevent voting and skew the outcome in favour of the Shi'ites. A low Sunni turnout could undermine the election's credibility.
Officials of Iraq's U.S.-backed interim government say insurgents are trying to provoke sectarian civil war. The guerrillas have killed hundreds of politicians and security men they brand as traitors and collaborators.
ACCUSATION OF U.S.-SHI'ITE PLOT
Zarqawi, who heads the Al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq, accused Shi'ites of engaging in a plot with Washington to seize absolute power.
"Oh people of Iraq, where is your honour? Have you accepted oppression of the crusader harlots ... and the rejectionist pigs?" he said on the audio tape.
Zarqawi vowed in an audiotape released on Thursday that militants were ready to fight for "months and years" to drive out foreign occupiers.
A recent recording said to be from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden backed Zarqawi as the network's leader in Iraq.
The latest tape included a tirade against democracy, which the speaker described as fundamentally un-Islamic and a "lie" the United States was using to brainwash Muslims.
A little-known Islamist group that claimed responsibility for kidnapping eight Chinese labourers earlier this month said on Saturday it had released them.
But the Chinese embassy said on Sunday it was still trying to track them down. A video from insurgents showed a man with his face covered by a traditional chequered headdress shaking hands with each of the Chinese before they walked off camera.
The Chinese embassy in Baghdad confirmed it had been informed of the release but had not been able to locate the men.
Guerrillas have kidnapped more than 100 foreigners over the past year and killed around a third of them.
Mounting a massive security effort, Iraq has said it will seal its borders and impose strict bans on traffic on election day to prevent suicide bombings at polling stations.
Baghdad airport will be closed on January 29 and 30 and night-time curfews will be extended in several cities.
Iraq's fledgling security services will have primary responsibility for safeguarding voting sites, but U.S.-led forces will be ready to deploy rapid-reaction teams
Oh yeah.... He's a DU Dummy loser. He can't win a free election - and what's this talk about importing Shi'ites from Iran? 60% of Iraq's population is Shi'ite. Like DUH. Nice to know al Zarqawi's against democracy and freedom because Bush is for it. IT'S ALL PRESIDENT BUSH'S FAULT!
Perhaps the US should tell him he is right and name Bush Mullah of the United States of the World.
And yet I had many of my fellow freepers here flame me and tell me that Islam is just a religion.
She'd look good in a burka, with some Taliban thug whipping her for peeking out from behind her veil.
Yeah really. Even the Iranians hold sham elections for a Parliament and President. I have yet to hear Supreme Fayigh Khamenei declare it the work of the Great Satan.
There was a thread last night saying there were reports that he had been captured.
Didn't he get like 100% of the vote?
Yep. Al Zarqawi had no problem with THAT definition of "democracy." Of course everything was swell, wasn't it, as long as the Sunnis held a monopoly on power. All of a sudden, the moment they lost it for good, democracy's illegitimate. No one in Iraq is fooled for a moment by his pious claim its unIslamic. What's really unIslamic is that al Zarqawi can't persuade a majority of Iraqs by peaceful means to agree with him. 'Nuff said.
In case anyone thinks this is old news, THIS IS A NEW SECOND al-ZARQAWI TAPE RELEASED TODAY...
"in an audiotape posted Sunday"...
"It was the second voice tape posted on Islamic Web sites this week purporting to be al-Zarqawi, responsible for numerous car-bombings and beheadings foreign and Iraqi hostages over the past months."
RobFromGa
Those appear regularly every few days.
Good. Now I hope people read this and accept the fact that there is no such thing as a Islamic democracy
They have to execute a lot of people to stop it. They're perfectly capable of genocide but they won't get the chance. Thank God President Bush is around four more years.
One Time One Vote One Man. They stopped an Islamist takeover in Algeria. You know as well as I do these people don't want freedom. At least al Zarqawi's being honest in making it clear he's not waging a terrorist campaign to get a voice in Iraq's government.
Is it a war on Islam yet?
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