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.
Hey, the Democrats are looking for a new idea. They want to find some way out of this "war on terrorism" stuff, plus they'd probably like to lose their reputation for being hostile towards religion. So I got an idea for 'em. In 2004, they should run on a platform of converting to Islam! What better way to avoid war than to appease the enemy! They could propose tough new federal regulations about the lengths of men's beards, and Barbra Streisand herself could model the new "Democrat Burqua" that all the women will wear... or die. Most of Hollywood will applaud... they're trying to stamp out recorded music anyway. Next they could blow up all the old statues of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Muhammad al-Gore could even be in charge of getting rid of those internal combustion engines, replacing them all with horses (camels optional in Arizona New Mexico, and some parts of Nevada). |
Clean up your own mess, because if we're attacked again, we turn Mecca into a ashtray within hours.
No Mecca, No Islam.
Oh, but they do and are using that concept to their advandage.
I did not know that, but it doesn't surprise me in the least.
Our President doesn't believe that.
I'd seriously consider leaving any major city at this point. Outside a 100 kiloton direct blast radius. They haven't been sitting back and whistling dixie.
I wouldn't. AQ has never had access to serious kilotonnage. Bomb maitenance alone is a huge pain in the ass. If they have anything at all, which I doubt, it's old Soviet battlefield stuff whose blast capability I would doubt.
I don't mean to be pollyanish at all: one small Sov tac nuke can have a yield of, say, 20KT. Hiroshima was 22KT, iirc. I just doubt that they have it.
Of course, they'd be stupid enough to use it if they did have it, wouldn't they. It's not exactly as if they're reasonable folks.
There may come a time after all when we may have to kill these people, all of them, just to survive.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
The most appropriate response rhymes with "pluck poo."
The first one or two nukes they get will go off when they are trying to rewire it on somebody's kitchen table or detonate in their trunk when they hit a bump. That's how we'll know they got one.
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