Talking again?
Al-Arabiya as well as Al-Jazeera have aired another tape claiming to be a message from Osama bin Laden. Once again they refuse to reveal where they get material like this and footage of the Italian hostage being killed — which of course is just one of the things that raises the question of whether these networks actually support the terrorists.
From AP:
CAIRO, Egypt – In a recording broadcast on Arab satellite networks Thursday, a man who identified himself as Osama bin Laden offered a “truce” to European countries that do not attack Muslims, saying it would begin when their soldiers leave Islamic nations.
Remember, Islamic law is quite specific about truces. They can only be concluded for a temporary period, so that the Islamic forces can gather strength. Thus this offer, whoever is really making it, may indicate that the mujahedin are feeling the heat of the war on terror in Iraq, and want to give their forces a chance to regroup and regain the upper hand.
The tape, which ran in full at more than seven minutes, also vowed revenge against America for the Israeli assassination of a militant Palestinian leader and denounced the United States as using the Iraq war for corporate profiteering.
“I announce a truce with the European countries that do not attack Muslim countries,” the taped message said as the stations showed an old, still picture of al-Qaida leader.
There was no way to verify the speaker’s identity.
Several audio and video tapes of al-Qaida’s No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, have been released in recent months, but Thursday’s tape was the first purportedly from bin Laden since September. Then, a video tape showed bin Laden climbing down a craggy mountainside with al-Zawahri.
Ayman Gaballah, editor of Al-Arabiya, said only that the pan-Arab television network received the tape from “our sources.” He would not say if the tape was received at its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates or in a bureau elsewhere, such as Pakistan or Afghanistan.
“From the voice, it seems it is bin Laden, but we are not experts to confirm it,” Gaballah said.
Al-Jazeera, a Qatar-based satellite station, also aired the tape in full. Its chief editor wasn’t immediately available for comment.
The latest message said “the door to a truce is open for three months.” This time frame, the voice said, could be extended. “The truce will begin when the last soldier leaves our countries,” the speaker said without elaborating.
“They say that we kill for the sake of killing, but reality shows that they lie,” the speaker said.
Russians, he said, were only killed after attacking Afghanistan in the 1980s and Chechnya, Europeans after invading Iraq and Afghanistan and the Americans in New York after “supporting the Jews in Palestine and their invasion of the Arabian Peninsula.”
Osama apparently declined to explain all the jihads that were waged since the founding of Islam, long before the Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan and even before the founding of the State of Israel.
“Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood,” the message added. “This is a difficult but easy equation.”
This truce, the message said, was to deny “the war mongers” further opportunities and because polls have shown that “most of the European peoples want reconciliation” with the Islamic world.
I.e., most are terrified and willing to engage in dhimmi appeasement.
In a reference to the attacks on the United States and Spain, the voice said that “what happened on September 11 and March 11 was your goods delivered back to you.”
“Security is a need for all humans and we could not let you have a monopoly on it for yourselves,” the voice added. “People who are aware would not let their politicians jeopardize their security.”
The message also vowed revenge for Israel’s killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas: “We vow before God to take revenge for him from America for this, God willing.”
The message said that American policy ignores the “real problem,” which is “the occupation of all of Palestine.”
It denounced the U.S. war on Iraq, saying it was making “billions of dollars” for companies, “whether those that make weapons or those that take part in reconstruction,” naming the American firm Halliburton.