Posted on 11/13/2002 4:45:48 PM PST by blam
'To countries allied with the Americans. . .'
(Filed: 14/11/2002)
The following are extracts from a tape purported to contain the words of Osama bin Laden, broadcast by al-Jazeera television.
From the worshipper of God, Osama bin Laden, to the people of the countries that are allied with the unjust American government: the road to safety starts with stopping aggression and it is only fair to establish equal treatment.
The events since the New York and Washington raids until today - such as the killing of Germans in Tunisia and the French in Karachi, the blowing up of the French supertanker in Yemen, the killing of the Marines in the [Kuwaiti] island of Failaka, the killing of the British and Australians in Bali, the recent operation in Moscow, and other operations here and there - were only reactions based on equal treatment.
They were carried out by pious Muslims defending their religion and heeding God's orders and those of his Prophet. . .
What Bush, the Pharaoh of the time, is doing by killing Iraqis and what America's ally Israel is doing by bombing houses over the heads of elderly people, women and children using American planes should have been enough for the wise among your leaders to abandon this gang of criminals.
Our brethren in Palestine have been subjected to killings and torture for about a century. But when we defend them the world was shocked and formed a coalition against Muslims under the false banner of fighting terrorism.
What do your governments have to do with the gang of criminals in the White House? Do your governments not know the White House gang are the biggest butchers of the era?. . .
What caused your governments to join America in attacking us in Afghanistan? I mention in particular Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Australia. We had warned Australia about its participation in Afghanistan . . . It ignored the warning until it woke up to the sound of explosions in Bali.
If it upsets you to look at your casualties and those of your allies, then remember the children killed in Palestine and Iraq every day and remember our casualties in Khost and those deliberately killed in Afghan weddings . . .
Until when would killing and destruction . . . be our share, while security, stability and happiness are yours? This is unfair and it is high time that we stand on equal ground. As you kill, you will be killed and as you bomb, you will be bombed.
By Philip Smucker in Cairo
(Filed: 14/11/2002)
The Telegraph (UK)
Even by the furious standards of Osama bin Laden's past rhetoric, the new audio-tape attributed to him carries what appears to be one of the angriest messages ever delivered by the al-Qa'eda leader.
Bin Laden's utterances are usually directed at an Islamic audience and are peppered with a plethora of phrases from the Koran. But experts said the latest tape was part of a broader public relations campaign to promote alQa'eda's views as the West gears up for a possible war with Iraq.
It is being viewed in the same context as a tape by bin Laden's top Egyptian deputy, Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri a month earlier, one that counter-terror experts believed carried cryptic messages to attack new targets.
The experts claimed that both messages attempt to lay claim to the Palestinian and Iraqi causes, on the one hand, and to divide Western allies from Washington's supposedly bellicose policies.
In addition, the four-minute tape delivered to the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television station on Tuesday, appears to mark an effort to offer a belated rationale for several recent attacks.
It also suggested that al-Qa'eda is seeking to justify its atrocities after the event, even when the terrorists behind the attacks suggested that operations had failed. The Indonesians arrested for the Bali attack have expressed disappointment that their attempt to target Americans largely failed. While five Americans died, at least 50 Australians were killed.
But the voice in the tape contradicts the alleged bombers, saying that Australia was the target because of its support for the US-led war on terror. Although bin Laden does not take direct credit for all the recent attacks on Westerners, he clearly tries to clarify the causes that the network is fighting for.
It refers to "our kinfolk in Palestine, who have been slain and severely tortured", and it asks citizens of US-allied Western nations to "remember our children who are killed in Palestine and Iraq every day".
This week's message is, nevertheless, much more akin to an angry rant than most of bin Laden's polished video-tape presentations which are invariably delivered in literary Arabic and more attuned to the ears of Islamic scholars, than an international audience.
The issues the tape touches on are commonly discussed by Muslims in the tea houses and homes from Cairo to Sana'a and Karachi. The speaker sounds, in this respect, like many Muslims embittered by Washington's perceived bias against them.
The speaker asks Muslims to question the policies of their own pro-Western regimes. He demands: "What do your governments want by allying themselves with the criminal gang in the White House against Muslims? Do your governments not know that the White House gangsters are the biggest butchers of this age?"
Analysts also believe the message probably contains code words to al-Qa'eda operatives planning new attacks.
As with the October message from al-Zawahiri, FBI experts will take the latest audio-tape to imprisoned al-Qa'eda members in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who have offered their own interpretations of previous messages.
Starting to sound like something the Democrats would cook-up, huh?
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