A new audiotape from Zarqawi, just in from MEMRI:
Al-Zarqawi’s speech is delivered in a high style of classical Arabic. Many of the sentences are in rhymed prose, inlaid with Koranic verses and poetry. The speech singles out Iraq’s Prime Minister Iyad Allawi as a primary target. It is addressed to the Jihad fighters in Iraq, and in particular to the foreign volunteers.
The tone of the speech seems to suggest that it is intended to encourage the fighters, who have sustained great losses, and to restore their faith in the ultimate victory. Some of the expressions used by Al-Zarqawi – such as “a call for help from the deep” – may hint at the state of distress of the fighters, which prompted the speech.
According to Al-Zarqawi, the war in Iraq is against a “tri-partite Satanic alliance of heresy and deceit” of Americans, Kurds, and Shi’ites: “The first are the Americans who carry the banner of the cross; the second are the Kurds through their pashmerga forces, which are reinforced by Jewish military cadres under the command of the two collaborators, [Massoud Al-] Barzani and [Jalal Al-] Talabani; the third are the Shi’ites, the Sunnis’ enemies, represented by the army of treachery … the Party of Satan.
“The traitor Allawi is today their tool, and the lion’s share of our arrows are for him, Allah willing.”
Al-Zarqawi explains that the real aim of the U.S. is not the conquest of Najaf, but rather the Sunni Triangle. He says that America was defeated and humiliated by the Muslim warriors: “This is the brotherhood of Jihad, both Muhajireen and Ansar [i.e., both foreign volunteers and native Iraqis].(3) The other ones, who led the international alliance to drink the draught of humiliation…”
Al-Zarqawi calls upon young Muslims in Iraq and in every Muslim country to join the Jihad in Iraq. He also calls upon the Islamic nation not to be deceived by Western propaganda and by those who echo it in Muslim countries.
Al-Zarqawi calls on the Muslims to rise from their slumber and to unite against the infidels who offend their honor: “Here, the Abu Ghreib prison is in front of you – go ahead and ask it.
“As for you, fighters who came from afar, by Allah, missions of da’wa [the propagation of Islam] have never been a road lined with roses and sweet basil; the price of da’wa missions is heavy, and the price of bringing principles to the land of reality is a lot of torn limbs and blood. The light of dawn shall not be lit in this darkness save by Jihad fighters and shahids.”
Note the close connection he makes between da’wa, the proclamation of Islam, and its next stage, jihad against those who have refused.