Posted on 11/16/2002 7:15:48 PM PST by Michael2001
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - A statement attributed to al-Qaida threatened more attacks in New York and Washington unless America stops supporting Israel and converts to Islam, an Arab TV reporter who received the unsigned document said Saturday.
Yosri Fouda, correspondent for the satellite station Al-Jazeera, told The Associated Press he received the six-page document on Wednesday. That was a day after the TV station broadcast an audiotape purportedly made by Osama bin Laden (news - web sites).
Fouda, who is known for good contacts within al-Qaida, would only say that the statement came from his sources with the group. But he insisted he was certain it came from the terrorist movement's leadership.
Fouda, speaking by telephone from London, said the statement called on Americans to stop supporting Israel and other governments that "oppress" Muslims or face more attacks. The statement also called on Americans to convert to Islam, he said.
Fouda quoted the statement as saying: "Stop your support for Israel against the Palestinians, for Russians against the Chechens ... for corrupt leaders in our countries ... (and) leave us alone or expect us in Washington and New York."
He added the statement demanded U.S. troops leave the Arabian Peninsula, and justified the killings of American civilians because they pay taxes that finance military operations.
There was no immediate reaction from Washington. No officials were available for comment at the Pentagon (news - web sites) or the National Security Council Saturday afternoon. A report on the statement as described by Fouda was carried in The Sunday Times of London.
Fouda is a prominent Arab television journalist who has broken several important stories about al-Qaida. In September, Al-Jazeera broadcast Fouda's interviews with two top al-Qaida operatives hiding in Pakistan, Ramzi Binalshibh and Khaled Sheik Mohammed.
Binalshibh was arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, shortly after the broadcast and was transferred to U.S. custody.
Fouda said the statement also referred to the crisis between the United States and Iraq as one more reason to attack Americans.
"You are placing Muslims under siege in Iraq, where children die every day. Oh, how weird that you don't care for 1.5 million Iraqi children who died under siege, but when 3,000 of your compatriots died, the whole world was shaken," Fouda quoted the statement as saying.
Meanwhile, a militant Islamic Web site that carries news about al-Qaida has dismissed as lies a report that a senior member of the terror group is in U.S. custody.
U.S. officials in Washington said Friday that one of the leaders of al-Qaida had been detained in a foreign country and handed over to U.S. authorities.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to identify the detainee, but said he was not al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, his chief depity, his son or the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The site scoffed at the U.S. officials' refusal to name the detainee. "Maybe they fear to announce a certain name, and al-Qaida would issue a denial so their (the U.S.) situation would become worse," it said.
I don't know about Neville Powell, but I believe (or like to believe) that President Bush has a very good poker face. Yeah, he's probably pissed as all hell at them -- from the 9/11 attacks and subsequent taunting to the lack of cooperation and underhanded backstabbing from the likes of those little Saudi bastards. But he's not going to lay out his emotions on the table for them to see and try to manipulate.
He's not stupid -- but he does seem to get ahead by allowing people to believe that he is.
"...Lorena Bobbit. Paging Lorena Bobbit. Please report for immediate patriotic duty..."
I will not "convert" to the insane death cult you call "Islam".
Should you continue to attempt to utilize force, fear, and intimidation in your likewise insane pursuit of mine, or anyone else's "conversion", rest assured that I will meet force, with force, jam your intimidation right back down your slimy throat, and when I have finished with you, you will come to understand the true meaning of the word "fear"...
the infowarrior
Don't discount the possibility that these public pronouncements have messages to the cells imbedded within them.
When we got to the house, I told the preacher to wait on me.
I went up to the door and looked into the kitchen. He was sitting at the table with a .45 and bottle of whiskey.
I knew him fairly well so I told him who I was and that I'd come up to get a drink from him. He waved me on in.
After a while I went out and told the preacher to go ahead on in there.
On our way back to town, the preacher told me that he wasn't afraid to die but sure was afraid of bullets hitting him.
I told him that there was no need to be embarrassed by fear; fear is a natural reaction to danger! And, Lord knows, I know the feeling!
The Islamic world is going to be introduced to two new words which will be very significant to their all too short future...
They are "Carthage Protocols", or if you prefer, "scorched earth"...
the infowarrior
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