Posted on 08/18/2003 8:04:34 AM PDT by kattracks
Aug. 18 — DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Arabiya television aired on Monday an audio tape allegedly from an al Qaeda spokesman saying Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Omar were alive and urging Muslims to fight a holy war against U.S. troops in Iraq.Al Arabiya attributed the recording to Afghan-based al Qaeda official Abdel Rahman al-Najdi, who it said was on a U.S. list of wanted al Qaeda members.
"I would like to bring the good tidings to Muslims everywhere that Sheikh Osama bin Laden is well, very well and that Mullah Omar is also alive," the voice on the recording said, referring respectively to the al Qaeda chief and Taliban leader who was ousted in a 2001 U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
The tape also praised and urged Muslims to continue their resistance against U.S. troops in Iraq, saying: "The Americans are begging the world to stand by their side in Iraq."
"I would also like to congratulate our brothers in Iraq for their valiant struggle against the occupation, which we support and urge them, to continue," it added.
"To our brothers in struggle in Iraq: the whole world has witnessed the collapse of the regime in Iraq and your steadfastness and victory against the invading U.S. and British troops."
"They came to invade and no one could stop them occupying Iraq. But when the young men of Jihad (holy war) started fighting in the name of God and the killing began day and night, they began looking for someone to help them and stand by their side."
"The group of believers carrying Jihad in the name of God planted fear and terror in the hearts of the Americans, who have violated all international laws and human conventions," the speaker added.
Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the tape, which was aired on Sunday and rebroadcast on Monday, or the identity of the speaker.
Unlike Kuwaiti-born spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith and other members of the militant network blamed for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Abdel Rahman al-Najdi has not previously been identified as an al Qaeda member.
Saudi-born bin Laden and Mullah Omar have been at large since the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
Bin Laden and his deputies made several video appearances in 2001. An audio tape purportedly made by the Qaeda leader was broadcast on an Islamist Web site in February 2003.
Oh, and, "He's Dead, Jim."
'Al-Qaeda' tape urges resistance
From correspondents in Dubai
August 18, 2003
AFP via http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6987475%255E1702,00.html
THE Al-Arabiya television station has broadcast an audio tape recording attributed to a leader of the al-Qaeda network, calling on Iraqis to continue to resist the US-led occupation of their country.
"Mujahedeen in Iraq... the entire world watched the fall of the Iraqi regime. Today it is watching your resistance to the Americans, the British and their agents," said the recording attributed to Abu Abdel Rahman al-Najdi, who claims to be al-Qaeda's spokesman in Afghanistan.
"Before their war in Iraq, the Americans scorned the United Nations and violated all the international laws, moral and humanitarian principles," said the recording, dated August 10.
"The Americans continue to plead with the United Nations for it to supply international troops (in Iraq)," continued the poor-quality, scarcely audible tape recording. It called on the Iraqi population to "pursue their resistance", taking example from al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan whom it claimed had "killed some 1200 men in their guerilla campaign against US and allied soldiers. The voice finally claimed that both the Taliban leader Mullah Omar and al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were in good health.
Al-Najdi, who is believed to be in hiding in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, is wanted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Agence France-Presse
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