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ZAWAHRI
STATEMENT BROADCAST ON AL-JAZEERA TV
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zawahri |
DUBAI,
Nov 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Ayman Zawahri, the top lieutenant
in Osama bin Laden’s al-Qa’eda network, delivered a statement that was
broadcast Saturday on the Qatari-based al-Jazeera television.
Zawahri’s
statement was a reply to the speech of U.S. President George W. Bush’s speech
Thursday, in which he said that Bush’s speech was “full of many
contradictions” and “ignored the basic facts of the struggle.”
"It
is astonishing, ridiculous and contemptuous that in Bush's speech yesterday and
also in the official statement of the American foreign ministry read by
Christopher Ross on Saturday, that both of them did not mention one word about
Palestine,” Zawahri said. “Even when Christopher Ross was asked about this
he replied with an excuse that was uglier than sin.”
"If
talking about Palestine - the central cause for Muslims for more than 50 years
and the main cause behind most of the events in the heart of the Islamic world
and the events in Washington and New York - is irrelevant, then there is no way
other than jihad [struggle], in the way of God, to free Palestine from the Jews
and the Americans.”
The
al-Qa’eda leader complained that Washington and the Western media were
describing his organization as “terrorists” now, but hailed them a decade
ago during the war to oust Russian forces from Afghanistan.
The
U.S. supported the group by supplying them with weapons, in order to help them
defeat the then Soviet Union in the early 1980s. A then top U.S. official was
then quoted as saying that bin Laden’s group would defeat the Russians because
“they have God on their side,” reported MSNBC.
Zawahri
argued that President Bush had lied to the American people when defending the
U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan. He denied U.S. claims that the
al-Qa’eda organization had been destroyed and that the ranks of the Taliban
had been divided.
It
was not clear as to when or where Zawahiri, bin Laden's second in command,
recorded his remarks.
Earlier
this week, Bush assured reporters that "slowly but surely, the Taliban
defense is crumbling” and that “We are making great progress" in the
Afghan military campaign.
The
United States accuses al-Qa’eda of plotting the deadly September 11 attacks on
New York and Washington, which killed nearly 5,000 people.
Bin
Laden has repeatedly denied any connection to the attacks, even as late as in
his first interview to journalists last week. He also said that the men the U.S.
has identified as the hijackers of the planes were nothing more than passengers
on the flight.
There
have also been reports that the hijackers’ seat numbers provided by a
stewardess on one of the doomed flights, via a cell phone call prior to the
crash, did not match those of the alleged hijackers identified by the U.S. Thus
far, these reports have not been clarified.
With
additional reporting by Neveen A. Salem, IOL Washington D.C.
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