I sketch the meteoric and criminal career of bin Laden's mentor (and possible murder victim) in my book Onward Muslim Soldiers. Here is his son describing Iraq as the latest site for jihad -- something I also detail in the book, so it is hardly a new development (I wrote the book in Winter 2003). But those who think that the jihad has been caused by American intervention there, and would end with American withdrawal, should remember that there were other sites that drew the mujahedin from around the world before Iraq: Bosnia, Afghanistan, Chechnya, etc. The jihad is not primarily a reaction to Western provocations, but an effort to spread the hegemony of Islamic Sharia; the provocations are only a pretext to gain support by playing on perceived grievances, and an opportunity to gain ground.
AMMAN, Aug 29 (AFP) - Iraq is attracting Islamic militants from across the world determined to join the "holy war" against the US-led occupation, the son of Osama bin Laden's mentor Abdullah Azzam told AFP in an interview."Hundreds of Muslims from all over Arab and non-Arab countries go to Iraq to help the resistance end the occupation, spurred by the conviction that jihad is a duty against the occupier," said Hudayfa Azzam, 34.
He also claimed that the former regime of Saddam Hussein "strictly and directly controlled" members of bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network in Iraq before the US invasion, as charged by members of US President George Bush's administration but refuted by other experts.
In 1984 Bin Laden decided to leave his native Saudi Arabia and follow Abdullah Azzam, better known as "the prince of the mujahedeens" (Muslim combattants), to Afghanistan.
Before being killed with two of his sons in a bomb attack against their car in Afghanistan in November 1989, Abdullah Azzam wrote a five-volume encyclopedia on jihad which has become the reference book for his Muslim followers.
He also founded the Muslim Brotherhood in the Palestinian territories.
His ideology is that "when a Muslim country is occupied the sharia (Muslim law) says that Muslims across the world must strive to liberate that land," his son told AFP.
"That is why my father was the first Arab to go to Peshawar to help liberate Afghanistan from Soviet occupation," he said.
Impressed by the lectures Abdullah Azzam gave at the King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden decided in 1984 to visit Azzam in Amman where he lived to learn more about jihad.
But Azzam was packing up for Afghanistan and invited Bin Laden to follow him there.
Bin Laden took up the offer and agreed "to work in and finance" an office set up by Abdullah Azzam which provided services and guidance to the new mujahedeen recruits, Hudayfa Azzam said.
In 1987 he broke away and set up Al-Qaeda.
"The idea of jihad is the same whether the occupier is Soviet, as was the case in Afghanistan, or American, as it is now in Iraq," Hudayfa Azzam added.
He said that leading Islamic militants "realised that it is more beneficial not to have too many groups, parties and masterminds because it creates problems".
"There is effective coordination among the elite members of the resistance in Iraq," said Hudayfa Azzam, adding that the ideology now prevailing in the embattled country is close to his father's beliefs.
It is close to the ideology of "liberation movements, such as the (Palestinian radical group) Hamas", he said.
How goes the confrence have been looking for it not showing it so far?
Stay safe
Part of the American Tribe
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and All who Fight with her give them Strength,Wisdom and Courage to stay the course to Victory Amen
Just a thought?
Could it be OPEC that is trying to bring down Iraq now yes they keep hit-ing their oil fields?
The price is going down because we are going to drill in Alaska on non fed. land no matter what so now all of a sudden opec is going to pump more oil to keep the price down so we will not drill for our own?
We can use our grains to feed our cars can the arabs eat oil?
We can turn coal into gas for our planes can the arabs eat oil?
Even arafat sees that they have pushed to far?
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/8/26/160740.shtml
Oil Prices Slide Despite Drop in Iraq's Export
Could it be because the Govoner of Alaska said his state is going to drill no mater what?
Part of the American Tribe
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and All who Fight with her give them Strength,Wisdom and Courage to stay the course to Victory Amen
I'm willing to hazard a guess that they're all headed for Fallujah, too.
Mike
I'm new here, but I'll venture that Al-Sadr's ilk was in Fallujah the same daY Sistani took control at Najaf, or better yet, most of them were there already!! Now Sadr is calling for his militia to lay down their arms, and says he's entertaining joining the political process....see they even practice taqiyya on their own...
Al-Sadr is a dead man if he steps foot in Fallujah - Zarqawi and his merry band of Wahhabis will saw his head off.
Pax you would loose that bet?
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2768206
Aug. 30, 2004, 11:47AM
Al-Sadr tells followers to end fighting
Insurgent attacks cuts oil exports
This latest initiative shows that we want stability and security in this country by ending all confrontation in all parts of Iraq," said Sheik Raed al-Khadami, al-Sadr's spokesman in Baghdad. "Al-Sadr's office in Najaf will call within the next two days to join the political process."
Al-Sadr visited the Imam Ali Shrine in the city of Najaf for the first time since his militia left the holy site of Friday after weeks of using as a stronghold and refuge during the fighting with the Americamns.
Al-Sadr asked religious authorities for permission to enter the shrine and made a brief visit today, according to the office of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric.
Uprisings by al-Sadr's fighters this month and in April increased the security problems faced by Allawi's government, on top of the Sunni Muslim-led insurgency that has plagued Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein more than a year ago.
YEA he was going to fight to the death an again ran away and let the old man save his life these 2 are in leage with Iran who is use-ing them as a dis-trak-tion this has been seen this time and will not work again?
If this is the case then Iraq is lost to Iran and their people will live in hell!!!
Part of the American Tribe
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and All who Fight with her give them Strength,Wisdom and Courage to stay the course to Victory Amen
What better proof exists for the brilliance of the Bush "honeypot" doctrine as it is now fully deployed in Iraq, the very heart of the defunct Islamic empire?
If anyone harbors any doubts, here are the plain words of President Bush spoken to a cheering crowd in Springfield, Ohio on July 30, 2004, and ponder that the median American voter is standing among them:
As the jihadis are drawn to Iraq, nay, in many cases, compelled to journey there on foot by their demented death-centric ideology, they are welcomed not by Sheriff Andy Taylor on Main Street, Mayberry, RFD, but by the armor of the United States Army, the "owners of the night" snipers of the United States Marine Corps, and a rain of fire and steel from the unseen jinns of heaven of the United States Air Force.
Some fear that the president is merely stirring the hornets' nest. Nothing could be further from the truth. The United States did not come to the heart of Islamic jihad to stir it up, the United States has come to destroy it. The legions of American might have come to the Muslim world not to camp for a fortnight and make noise. They have come to stay for as many decades it will take to eradicate the scourge of jihad in our generation.
I have no doubt that the raison d'etre for President Bush was defined in a single moment, the moment he stood with his own feet upon the rubble of the Twin Towers, heard with own ears the lamenting groan of the restless heap, felt with his own skin the heat of the smoldering pile, beheld with his own eyes the panorama of Armageddon, and inhaled with his own breath the odor of the burnt flesh of his fellow citizens whose lives and liberty he is sworn to preserve. This is what drives him to Afghanistan, to Iraq, and to wherever else in the world he feels the need to project the most potent power of destruction that has ever existed in the history of the world.
Like I've said before, this is a once in a millenium kind of ideological clash and it has only just begun. Woe to the fools who have awakened the giant in our generation. Woe to the millions who will now no doubt behold the Face of Shiva before he slumbers again.
Like father, like son,eh! My daddy is a Jihadist
so I'll be one too... What about Mom? Is she ready to sacrifice their bodyparts as well as her own?? Guess this must be definition of today's 'Nuclear family.'