Al-Jazeera Airs Bin Laden Tape

[Fico]

Al-Jazeera Airs Bin Laden Tape
 Reuters
 Friday, October 29, 2004; 4:24 PM
 
 
 DUBAI -- Osama bin Laden accused President Bush of deceiving the American people and said the Sept. 11 attacks would not have been so severe if the president had been alert.
 
 In an address on Al Jazeera television just days ahead of the U.S. presidential election, bin Laden also said the U.S. administration resembled "corrupt" Arab governments.
 
 
 
 A screen grab taken on Friday from a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera news channel shows al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden delivering a message addressed to the United States. (Al Jazeer via AFP)  
 
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 "It never occurred to us that the commander in chief of the country (Bush) would leave 50,000 citizens in the two towers to face those horrors alone ... because he thought listening to a child discussing her goats was more important," bin Laden said, referring to Bush's visit to a school when the attack occurred.
 
 Al Qaeda leader bin Laden said he had first thought of attacking the United States after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
 
 U.S. intelligence agencies believe that it appeared to be bin Laden on the tape, one official said.
 
 Bin Laden appeared to be sitting or standing at a table against a neutral brown background. He wore a round, white head covering and white tunic under a light brown cloak.
 
 Reading from a sheet of paper, his voice was strong and he appeared in fair health, his full beard a mixture of white and dark grey. At times he gestured at the camera with his right index finger to emphasise points.

<img src="http://www.chezgrae.com/modsquad/images/linc68.jpg" alt=" - " />Link?

Osama llama ding-dong stumping for the man who let his relatives leave on those 9/12 planes? It's nice to see that one of W's old buddies will step up to the plate on his behalf election eve.

[ggw]

Originally posted by marquee smith:
  Osama llama ding-dong stumping for the man who let his relatives leave on those 9/12 planes? It's nice to see that one of W's old buddies will step up to the plate on his behalf election eve.

Sounds more like he's stumping for Kerry:
 
   

Osama Bin Laden Tape Threatens U.S. States Not to Vote for Bush
 
 By: Yigal Carmon*
 
 The tape of Osama bin Laden that was aired on Al-Jazeera [1] on Friday, October 29th included a specific threat to "each U.S. state," designed to influence the outcome of the upcoming election against George W. Bush. The U.S. media in general mistranslated the words "ay wilaya" (which means "each U.S. state") [2] to mean a "country" or "nation" other than the U.S., while in fact the threat was directed specifically at each individual U.S. state. This suggests some knowledge by bin Laden of the U.S. electoral college system. In a section of his speech in which he harshly criticized George W. Bush, bin Laden stated: "Any U.S. state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security."
 
 The Islamist website Al-Qal'a explained what this sentence meant: "This message was a warning to every U.S. state separately. When he [Osama Bin Laden] said, 'Every state will be determining its own security, and will be responsible for its choice,' it means that any U.S. state that will choose to vote for the white thug Bush as president has chosen to fight us, and we will consider it our enemy, and any state that will vote against Bush has chosen to make peace with us, and we will not characterize it as an enemy. By this characterization, Sheikh Osama wants to drive a wedge in the American body, to weaken it, and he wants to divide the American people itself between enemies of Islam and the Muslims, and those who fight for us, so that he doesn't treat all American people as if they're the same. This letter will have great implications inside the American society, part of which are connected to the American elections, and part of which are connected to what will come after the elections." [3]
 
 Another interesting aspect of the speech is the fact that while bin Laden made his specific threat to each U.S. state, he also offered an election deal to the American voters, attempting to influence the election by these means rather than influencing it through terrorist attacks. [4] This peace offer is a theme that follows up on his April speech directed to Europe, in which he offered a truce. [5] The Islamist website Al-Islah explains: "Some people ask 'what's new in this tape?' [The answer is that] this tape is the second of its kind, after the previous tape of the Sheikh [Osama bin Laden], in which he offered a truce to the Europeans a few months ago, and it is a completion of this move, and it brings together the complementary elements of politics and religion, political savvy and force, the sword and justice. The Sheikh reminds the West in this tape of the great Islamic civilization and pure Islamic religion, and of Islamic justiceâ?¦" [6]
 
 Another conspicuous aspect of the tape is the absence of common Islamist themes that are relevant to the month of Ramadan, which for fundamentalists like bin Laden is the month of Jihad and martyrdom. Noticeably absent from the Al-Jazeera tape was his usual appearance with a weapon, and more importantly the absence of references to Jihad, martyrdom, the Koran, the Hadith (Islamic tradition), Crusaders, Jews, and the legacy of the Prophet Muhammad on the duty to wage Jihad against the infidels. For the followers of the Al-Qa'ida ideology, this speech sends a regressive and defeatist message of surrender, as seen in the move from solely using Jihad warfare to a mixed strategy of threats combined with truce offers and election deals.

http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SA1404

[vansmack]

Originally posted by marquee smith:
  Osama llama ding-dong stumping for the man who let his relatives leave on those 9/12 planes? It's nice to see that one of W's old buddies will step up to the plate on his behalf election eve.

It's disgusting the spin the Bush Camp has put on this:
 
 -----------------------------
 http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/247753p-212149c.html
 
 "We want people to think 'terrorism' for the last four days," said a Bush-Cheney campaign official. "And anything that raises the issue in people's minds is good for us."
 
 A senior GOP strategist added, "anything that makes people nervous about their personal safety helps Bush."
 
 He called it "a little gift," saying it helps the President but doesn't guarantee his reelection.
 --------------------------------------
 
 You haven't caught him in how many months and somehow you use this a s boon to your campaign.  You want the American people to be nervous?
 
 I can only hope the American people see this tape and say if Bush is so much more effective, why is bin Laden still on the loose?

To take the republican side:
 
 The only message Osama Llama Ding-Dong could send was by video.  He really wanted to send an attack, but was stymied by US security efforts at home & abroad.  So he sent a measley video instead...