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marinemom
10-30-04, 05:44 AM
Bin Laden Warns U.S. Voters
'Your Security Is in Your Own Hands,' He Says on Videotape

By Dana Priest and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 30, 2004; Page A01

Osama bin Laden injected himself into the final days of the U.S. presidential campaign, warning that American voters will be held accountable for electing any president who seeks to destroy al Qaeda and persecutes Muslims.

"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda," bin Laden, looking thinner but healthier than in previous tapes and speaking in a calm voice, said on a videotape broadcast yesterday. "Your security is in your own hands."

Osama bin Laden, in a videotape broadcast on al-Jazeera, told Americans not to elect any president who would try to destroy al Qaeda. (Al-jazeera Via AP)

Bin Laden, in his first videotaped address in three years, displayed a fluency with American culture, mentioning "Manhattan," the USA Patriot Act and the 2000 election controversy in Florida. He made no explicit threat and did not issue a call to arms, as he has done since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Although he directed statements to the American public, many intelligence and other counterterrorism experts concluded bin Laden's primary goal was to use the U.S. campaign season to enhance his public profile rather than to sway the election.

"The tape is more about his own audience, about getting himself reelected as the head of the movement, than anything else," said Winston P. Wiley, former CIA deputy director of intelligence.

But the al Qaeda leader's appearance so close to Election Day prompted President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry to interrupt campaigning to react. It also reignited the speculation over whether the world's most wanted terrorist favors one candidate.

Inside the CIA, one senior U.S. counterterrorism official said, "I've heard it argued either way . . . but listen to what he's saying. It doesn't matter who's president."

Bush supporters have generally said bin Laden would like Kerry elected, in the expectation of taking the heat off his network; Kerry supporters point to jihadist Web sites' recent statements that Bush's policies have so inflamed the Muslim world that he is their best recruiting draw. Each side disputes the other's interpretation.

"He's injecting himself into the campaign to show he's a world player," said Daniel Benjamin, a Clinton administration counterterrorism official who is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In the tape, bin Laden stands at a lectern in white and gold robes before a brown background. His environs are not visible, a sharp contrast to previous tapes that have shown him walking through rocky passes.

A CIA spokesman said analysts had a "high degree of confidence" in the tape's authenticity after performing voice and facial analysis. He said the tape, broadcast on the Arabic-language al-Jazeera network, displayed the date of Sunday, Oct. 24.

It was the first time since December 2001 that bin Laden both appeared and spoke on a videotape, he said. A videotape released in September 2003 showed him walking with senior al Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri, but there was no audio, and officials believe the video could have been old. An audiotape believed to have been recorded by bin Laden was released with it.

The spokesman noted that the address broadcast yesterday "lacked an explicit threat" and that the al Qaeda leader reiterated grievances against the United States and Israel.

In the speech, bin Laden attacked Bush, his father and their closeness to the Saudi monarchy.

marinemom
10-30-04, 05:48 AM
Cont'd.

Speaking of former president George H.W. Bush, bin Laden said, according to an Associated Press translation: "He wound up being impressed by the royal and military regimes and envied them for staying decades in their positions and embezzling the nation's money with no supervision."

"He passed on tyranny and oppression to his son, and they called it the Patriot Act, under the pretext of fighting terror. Bush the father did well in placing his sons as governors and did not forget to pass on the expertise in fraud from the leaders of the [Middle East] region to Florida to use it in critical moments."
Bin Laden said he was inspired to destroy the World Trade Center towers by Israel's 1982 attack on Lebanon, in which U.S. battleships aided with bombardments.

"As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, I got the idea of punishing the oppressor the same way, by destroying towers in America so that it would taste some of what we have tasted and stop killing our children and our women," according to the SITE Institute's translation.

Bin Laden also ridiculed President Bush's initial reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks. He said Bush spent precious time "listening to a child discuss her goat," a reference to the minutes after Bush learned of the first attack and continued to sit in a Florida classroom listening to children read. "This had given us three times the time needed to carry out the operations." Bin Laden made several unusual references to "freedom." Juan Cole, a specialist in Middle Eastern affairs at the University of Michigan, said bin Laden is probably "annoyed that Bush has portrayed him as an enemy of freedom."

Cole said bin Laden may also be concerned about the recent election in Afghanistan and the backing the United States has gotten in Iraq for elections from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the Shiite leader, and he may be "feeling pressure from the success of the electoral process."

Bush has rarely spoken to reporters in his final campaign sprint, but he paused beside Air Force One in Toledo to address the tape.

"Americans will not be intimidated or influenced by an enemy of our country," he said. "I'm sure Senator Kerry agrees with this. I also want to say to the American people that we're at war with these terrorists and I am confident that we will prevail."

About the same time, Kerry told reporters in West Palm Beach, Fla.: "As Americans, we are absolutely united in our determination to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden and the terrorists. They are barbarians. And I will stop at absolutely nothing to hunt down, capture or kill the terrorists wherever they are, whatever it takes. Period."

Terrorism expert Rita Katz, founder of the SITE Institute, said she believes it is significant that the tape is being released during Ramadan, because al Qaeda publications have urged attacks during this time.

The SITE Institute reported on Oct. 1 that it had come across an Islamist message board posting predicting release of an audiotape. It said: "One of the brothers is going to post links to a new audiotape by Sheikh Osama Bin Laden, God Protect and Support him. He shall do so after the sunset prayer, Saudi time."

thedrifter
11-01-04, 06:11 AM
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 justice..."(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.

The following are the relevant excerpts from the speech; for the full excerpts visit the MEMRI TV Project at www.memritv.org:(7)

"Oh the American people, I address these words to you regarding the optimal manner of avoiding another Manhattan, and regarding the war, its causes, and its consequences. But before this, I say to you: Security is one of the important pillars of human life, and free men do not take their security lightly, contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom. Let him explain why we did not attack Sweden, for example. Clearly, those who hate freedom have no pride, unlike the 19 [suicide hijackers of 9/11], may Allah have mercy on them. We have been fighting you because we are free men who do not remain silent in the face of injustice. We want to restore our [Islamic] nation's freedom. Just as you violate our security, we violate yours.

"But I am amazed at you. Although we have entered the fourth year after the events of 9/11, Bush is still practicing distortion and deception against you and he is still concealing the true cause from you. Consequently, the motives for its reoccurrence still exist...

"We had no difficulty dealing with Bush and his administration, because it resembles the regimes in our [Arab] countries, half of which are ruled by the military, and the other half are ruled by the sons of kings and presidents with whom we have had a lot of experience. Among both types, there are many who are known for their conceit, arrogance, greed, and for taking money dishonestly.

"This resemblance began with the visit of Bush Sr. to the region. While some of our people were dazzled by the U.S. and hoped that these visits would influence our countries, it was he who was influenced by these monarchic and military regimes. He envied them for remaining in their positions for decades, while embezzling the nation's public funds with no supervision whatsoever. He bequeathed tyranny and the suppression of liberties to his son and they called it the Patriot Act, under the pretext of the war on terrorism.

"Bush Sr. liked the idea of appointing [his] sons as state governors. Similarly, he did not neglect to import into Florida the expertise in falsifying [elections] from the leaders of this region in order to benefit from it in difficult moments.

"We agreed with the general commander Muhammad Atta, may Allah have mercy on him, that all operations should be carried out within 20 minutes, before Bush and his administration would become aware. We never imagined that the Commander in Chief of the American armed forces would abandon 50,000 of his citizens in the twin towers to face this great horror alone when they needed him most. It seemed to him that a girl's story about her goat and its butting was more important than dealing with planes and their 'butting' into skyscrapers. This allowed us three times the amount of time needed for the operations, Allah be praised.

"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or Al-Qa'ida. Your security is in your own hands, and any U.S. state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security."

* Yigal Carmon is the President of MEMRI.

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


Ellie

Sgted
11-01-04, 07:46 AM
Some in the media are suggesting that Bin Laden's words were almost "consiliatory".
Lets hope American's don't let their guard down.

OLE SARG
11-01-04, 09:18 AM
I just heard Bin Laden is voting for kerry - what does that tell you about kerry - it means he hasn't changed his stripes. Once a TRAITOR ALWAYS A TRAITOR.

If kerry should get voted in we'll be kissing France's ass and the Communist Party will rise again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's hoping kerry chokes on his foot!!!!!!!!!

OLE SARG

Namvet67
11-01-04, 11:41 AM
I agree Ole Sarg!!!! Intimidation only works on the weak. Vote for Bush.

HardJedi
11-01-04, 07:51 PM
I really need to meet you sometime Ole Sarge, I like your style and thought processes. ;) and since you KC Guy, it really shouldn't be that hard to work out. there are a couple of us from KC who are thinking about getting together for dinner some night soon.

OLE SARG
11-04-04, 08:53 AM
HardJedi,

If we can work out an arrangement it would be great to meet some of the area Marines. Count me in for a get-together in the KC area.

SEMPER FI
OLE SARG

mark king
11-04-04, 09:11 AM
59 mil. americans just flipped off bin laden and the terrorist around the world.