Posted on 06/23/2002 6:17:02 AM PDT by SJackson
Osama Bin-Laden's terror group Al-Qaeda issued a series of threats Sunday morning against the United States and Jews, proclaiming that Bin-Laden and the other leaders of the organization were alive and well.
The threatening message enunciated by Al-Qaeda spokeman Suleiman Abu-Gheith was the first major Al-Qaeda message in many weeks, specifically mentioning President George Bush and other key members of his Administration such as Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
"Sheikh Osama Bin-Laden is in good health, praise Allah," said the Al-Qaeda spokesman, "and so it is with Dr. Ayman Zawahri and Mullah Omar," he continued referring to the organization's three key leaders who were believed to have been wounded in the Tora Bora battles in Afghanistan.
Abu-Gheith promised that Al-Qaeda was getting ready for new attacks on the United States and on Jews around the world to protest America's "anti-Muslim tendency.,"
However, at least one intelligence source in Israel told The Media Line that the Bin-Laden group may be trying to harass the American security community into making erors of judgment that will reveal areas of weakness and readiness.
While there was no clear indication of the terror group's continued operational capabilities, the message was a strong sign that the terror group continued in its hatred from America and its desire at least to harass it on the eve of its Independence Day celebration.
The Al-Qaeda threats came in an apparently new, seven-minute long audio tape message delivered to Al-Jazeera Arab satellite television, and they included the following key points:
*--Bin-Laden and "98-per cent of the Al-Qaeda leadership" are alive and well and plotting to strike at America and the world's Jews at various points around the world;
*--Al-Qaeda took responsibility for an attack on an ancient synagogue and tourist site in Tunisia in which 17 people were murdered, including 11 German tourists;
*--And Bin-Laden and his organization were planning on initiating new terror attacks on the United States beyond the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks of last September in which more than 2,000 people were murdered.
"While the Palestinians bleed in their land, the Jews will scream in their city, as they saw in their synagogue in Djerba (the island community in Tunisia)," proclaimed Al-Qaeda spokesman Abu-Gheith.
He said America was fooling itself into believing that it had hurt Bin-Laden with the military strikes at his bases in Afghanistan.
"In fact, I can say that 98-percent of the Al-Qaeda organization are in completely good health," said the organization spokesman.
"Muslims around the world who struggle in Allah's path will soon see Sheikh Osama Bin-Laden again," Abu-Gheith said, adding "the war has only begun."
© 2002 Michael Widlanski
Michael Widlanski is senior analyst at The Media Line and lecturer at The Rothberg School of the Hebrew University. Fuller versions of this article and others are available at www.themedialine.org
Which really means they will strike when and where they can. It's not that hard to kill innocent people, so it isn't much of a brag.
That is similar to what the U.S. military did in having our troops practice invasions from the Persian Gulf on Kuwait in the Gulf war. We had no intention of making an invasion over water but we let Sadam's "spies catch" us practicing. We also created a lot of radio traffic to make it look like we were going to combine a sea attack, with a frontal attack on land. We maintained total silence on what we were going to do which was a flank attack around Sadam's left flank.
Al Quaida has done that too. There were rumors of flying planes into buildings years ago. There were many more vague rumors of attacks that did and will not take place.
The Arab Culture is quite different from ours in at least one respect. When Sadam became certain he was unlikely to be able to defeat us, he talked about the MOTHER of all battles. It is typical Arab strategy. When they know they have nothing up their sleeve they talk big and tough. If Sadam had believed he could do a NAM on us, he would have played weak.. as if it would be a piece of cake for us to defeat him. His object for his propaganda would have been to lure us into making an attack that would have been bad for us.
Likewise when arabs have the stuff to really hurt their enemy with terrorism they never adverstise they are going to do it. Like Arafat and his attacks on Israel, Yasser always talks peace while conducting war. When he is finally checkmated, he will talk war while conducting peace. It is teh Arab way.
When Al Quaida threatens to do us great harm in the near future, you can be pretty certain they don't have the means to do it.
When and if they do attack, you will hear nothing from them before the attack about an attack. They went to great lengths to keep us ignorant of the WTC and the Pentagon attacks. If there is a next time they will go for a secret attack again.
The nmore they scream "We are going to attack you!" the safer I feel. I we don't destroy them and they shut up, cover your rear. We are likely to get hit.
OMG!! They're going to unleash the dreaded KAREN CARPENTER BOMB!!
Just curious. They are the propaganda arm of the terrorists, and if we were serious about combatting terrorism--which we profess to be...
It's an Israeli news organization which provides summaries and translations from the Israeli and Arab press, similar to MEMRI
You worthless arab dogs can stick with Saddam and even osama, but just remember who has the biggest stick. America didn't start this war but we will finish it. And the more you hit our innocence the more resolve we gain to annahilate you. Hay muslim arabs, eat poop and die.
Eggs, you crack me up! (pardon the pun) :-)
Karen Carpenter bombs suffer from anorexia. They are far too skinny to do any damage.
It will happen soon but when... and what will be our response?
We know a lot of these bastids melted into Iran and then to Iraq.
Good starting points!
Karen Carpenter bombs suffer from anorexia. They are far too skinny to do any damage.
No, the Karen Carpenter bombs cause anorexia, especially due to uncontrolled vomiting.
1st rule of war. Never ever destory your enemies means of communicating with their followers. With out it, they can only surrender themselves. What is important is for all their followers to surrender. It is one reason we did not destory Tokyo Rose, or Lord Haw Haw in World War II. It was important for Germans and Japanese leaders to be able to tell their own people that they had surrendered. Lots of their followers would not have believed they surrendered, if their only source of info was us. We wanted them to lay down their weapons when their leaders told them too. That is what they did.
One other factor in world war II was that during the period of 1939 to 1943 the German people believed everything that Hitler told them in his media. But by 1944 even the Germans could see that Hitler's media was lying and the Voice of America was telling the truth. It was a major factor in destroying the German will to fight.
How do you prove to people that their leaders are liars, if you don't let their leaders lie.
Those two reasons were the logic in not destorying their media. It worked before. It will work again.
I wonder if it ever occured to these megalomaniacs that if they continue being cute, the destruction of Pakistan, Iran and Iraq is not out of the question?
It would behoove those countries to consider the implications of continuing to harbor and shelter these Mass Murderers, and the consequences to themselves if they fail to do so.
He's dead, Jim.
Damn it Captain, I'm a doctor not a undertaker.
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