Al-Qaeda 'issues France threat'

bbc ^ | Thursday, 14 September 2006, 11:23 GMT 12:23 UK

[rightgrafix]

Al-Qaeda's deputy leader has claimed that a radical Algerian Islamist group had joined al-Qaeda and is being urged to punish France, it has emerged.

Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared a video on a website on the fifth anniversary of the 11 September attacks.

In the tape, he issued a warning of new attacks targeting Israel and the Gulf.

Although France's government opposed the US-led war in Iraq, French officials believe the country is still a target for Islamist militants.

In the video, Zawahiri says: "Osama Bin Laden has told me to announce to Muslims that the GSPC [the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat] has joined al-Qaeda," according to quotes given by the AFP news agency.

"This should be a source of chagrin, frustration and sadness for the apostates [of the regime in Algeria], the treacherous sons of [former colonial power] France."

He urges the group to become "a bone in the throat of the American and French crusaders".

"We pray to God that our brothers from the GSPC succeed in causing harm to the top members of the crusader coalition, and particularly their leader, the vicious America," he says.

Anne Giudicelli, head of the Terrorisc security consultancy who reviewed the whole tape, told Le Figaro newspaper the anti-France message had dominated the homepage of the website used by the GSPC for the past few days.

'High threat'

On Thursday, France's interior ministry said Zawahiri's comments "confirmed the high level of threat against our country", officials told AFP.

Ministry officials add that al-Qaeda had announced in a statement on 11 September 2003 that the GSPC was one of its components and there have since been other threats issued against France.

On Monday, Pierre de Bousquet de Florian, head of the DST domestic security service, said the threat of terrorist attack in France remained "very high and very international".

"For our Islamist adversaries, our country is frankly in the Western camp, the crusaders in their words, and we will be spared nothing," he told French radio.

The GSPC was created in the late 1990s by members of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which the aim of establishing an Islamic state in Algeria.

The GIA and other militant groups waged a decade-long campaign of violence, following the annulment in 1992 of elections which Islamic groups were poised to win.

An estimated 150,00 people are thought to have been killed in the violence.

[yankeedame]

Ripling.... is he related to Ruyard Kipling? ;^)

Oops... (blush,blush) You got me, partner.

(Well, so much for my being witty, brilliant, and clever before my second cup of coffee!)

[verity]

Zawahiri urges Algerian militants to crush "French crusaderscroissants.

[romanesq]

Oh they may talk a good game in the big field but at home they are heavy handed and play very tough. They and the GIA have a long history. And the ruthlessness of the GIA didn't fare well in France.

As I recall in 98, sitting on a street near Notre Dame watching the World Cup final on a TV in a closed store through a window created some rude behavior of a police van going through the street and practically crushing women and children in the process against street parked cars.

They can be a nasty lot.

[prairiebreeze]

Because of French troops being part of that UN farce that is supposedly going to protect Israel?

The frogs are likely cowering in their frog-shoes.

[Minette]

I think you missed the point. The French have been successfully cooperating with the US from the beginning on intelligence. There is a very informative article on French/US intelligence operations here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/02/AR2005070201361_pf.html

[osideplanner]

....................and is being urged to punish France............

This is a no brainer. Leave France alone. It will punish itself.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

I hope the French wake up before their country is totally overrun by the throat-slitters.

[reagan_fanatic]

I think you missed the point. The French have been successfully cooperating with the US from the beginning on intelligence.

I don't think I did. The WOT is a multi-faceted endeavor which should not only include military cooperation and intelligence gathering among allies and friends, but support in the very public propaganda part of the war, and there France has failed miserably.

al-Quaeda and other terrorist groups rely heavily on propaganda, not only to demoralize the enemy, but to swell their ranks of potential jihadists, and France's repeated snubs and rejections have played right into their hands.

It would be nice if France (and a few other European countries) would swallow their pride and recognize the importance of putting up a united front against a terrorist menace that threatens us all.

[Loud Mime]

You're reminding me of Churchill, who worried about France's navy going to the Nazis.

I wonder how an Islamic navy would fare?

[RightWhale]

It's apparently not enough that Algeria became independent of France. They have to keep it up until the place turns to total ash.

[attiladhun2]

AQ will attack anyone they view as weak. There is no place more weak and feckless about just about everything than Europe. However, Europeans have been ruthless and pitiless against Muslims in the past, and I don't think that ruthlessness has been entirely bred out of them. Also, the average, non-elitist European despises and mistrusts Middle Easterners probably far more than the average American.

[kAcknor]

Never left lack of angle stop truth or pointed humor... ;)

-----

"France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these
drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by
prostitutes."

--Mark Twain

---

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French
one behind me."

--General George S. Patton

---

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your
accordion."

--General Norman Schwartzkopf

---

"We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about
it."

--Marge Simpson

---

"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure."

--Jacques Chirac, President of France

"As far as France is concerned, you're right."

--Rush Limbaugh

---

"The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army
is sitting in Paris sipping coffee."

--Regis Philbin

---

"You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of
the 1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't
have
the face for it."

--John McCain , U.S. Senator from Arizona

---

"The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching
into Paris under a German flag."

--David Letterman

---

"Only thing worse than a Frenchman is a Frenchman who lives in
Canada
"

--Ted Nugent

---

"War without France would be like..... World War II."

--Unknown

---

"The favorite bumper sticker in Washington D.C. right now is one
that
says 'First Iraq, then France.'"

--Tom Brokaw

---

"What do you expect from a culture and a nation that exerted more of
its national will fighting against Disney World and Big Macs than the
Nazis?"

--Dennis Miller

---

"It is important to remember that the French have always been there
when they needed us."

--Alan Kent

---

"They've taken their own precautions against al-Qa'ida. To prepare
for an attack, each Frenchman is urged to keep duct tape, a white flag,
and a three-day supply of mistresses in the house."

--Argus Hamilton

---

"Somebody was telling me about the French Army rifle that was being
advertised on eBay the other day --the description was, 'Never shot.
Dropped once.'"

--Rep. Roy Blunt, MO

---

"The French will only agree to go to war when we've proven we've
found truffles in Iraq "

--Dennis Miller

---

Q. What did the mayor of Paris say to the German Army as they
entered
the city in WWII?

A. Table for 100,000 m'sieur?

---

"Do you know how many Frenchmen it takes to defend Paris? It's not
known, it's never been tried."

--Rep. R. Blount, MO

---

"Do you know it only took Germany three days to conquer France in
WWII? And that's because it was raining."

--John Xereas, Manager, DC Improv

---

The AP and UPI reported that the French Government announced after
the London bombings that it has raised its terror alert level from Run
to Hide. The only two higher levels in France are Surrender and
Collaborate. The rise in the alert level was precipitated by a recent
fire which destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively disabling
their military.

---

French Ban Fireworks at Euro Disney

(AP), Paris , March 5, 2003

The French Government announced today that it is imposing a ban on
the use of fireworks at Euro Disney. The decision comes the day after a
nightly fireworks display at the park, located just 30 miles outside of
Paris, caused the soldiers at a nearby French Army garrison to
surrender
to a group of Czech tourists.

[bill1952]

France acts in a way most practical, to keep the fanatics calm and not stir them up to rioting.

Yeah, how is that practical thing working out? - No muslims have been rioting in France, right?

[bill1952]

Good point, TK.

Are they under NATO auspices, or there on their own accord?

[bill1952]

Please tell me when "day one" was.
I missed it.

[Gumlegs]

[caffe]

next move? Come crawling to the USA for the Marines?

[bill1952]

You're reminding me of Churchill, who worried about France's navy going to the Nazis.

Until they sunk it, mainly at Mers-el-Kebir. :)

[stockstrader]

Darn, just when I thought that 'capitulation and appeasement' was the way to deal with bullies. (s/off)

[Berlin_Freeper]

"Although France's government opposed the US-led war in Iraq, French officials believe the country is still a target for Islamist militants."


LOL! As if just because the french crooks tried to protect their corruption at the UN the Terrorists would leave them alone... LOL!