 |
|
"As
you assassinate, so will you be (assassinated), and as you bomb so
will you likewise be," Bin Laden threatened U.S., allies
|
DOHA,
November 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Osama bin Laden hailed
in an audio recording broadcast by Al-Jazeera satellite channel late
Tuesday, November 12, the hostage-taking operation in Moscow and Bali
blasts in Indonesia, warning U.S. allies.
“Just
as you assassinate, so too will you be assassinated, and as you bomb, so
too will you be bombed,” he said in the broadcast, in reference to
the United States and its allies.
In
the audiotape addressed to “the peoples of countries allied to the
United States,” Bin Laden warned them against the “alliance between
their governments and the United States.”
“Don’t
your governments know that the White House gang is the most vicious
butcher of the age?” Bin Laden wondered.
“Is
not the killing and shelling that (U.S. President George) Bush, the
Pharaoh of our age, is doing in Iraq and that of Israel in Palestine
enough?” he asked.
He
cited by name Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Australia.
Lauding
the attacks “on Germans in Tunis, on the French in Karachi, on
Australians and Britons in Bali, on the French tanker in Yemen, and on
the U.S. Marines in Failaka (Kuwait), as well as the recent
hostage-taking in Moscow,” Bin Laden claimed they were “the response
of Muslims eager to defend their religion.”
The
Qatar-based satellite channel did not provide any details on how it
obtained the tape.
Commenting
on the new tape, Hany El-Sebaei, a London-based Islamic scholar, described the tape as the strongest evidence that Bin Laden is still
alive.
Bin
Laden wanted to encourage Arabs and Muslims, especially Iraqis, to
resist and defy American arrogance, he said.
According
to El-Sebai, Bin Laden is sending a message to the Arab and Islamic
nation, saying that if the United States had failed to arrest him, then
the nation can stand in the face of “mighty America”.
Meanwhile,
the White House said Tuesday it had seen reports of a purported new
audiotape by Bin Laden but was “not making any judgments” about its
authenticity, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
“We’ve
seen the reports, we’re looking into it, but at this point we’re not
making any judgments as to whose voice is on the tape,” said White
House national security spokesman Sean McCormack.
On
October 6, Al-Jazeera broadcast what it said was a recording of the
Al-Qaeda leader in which he issued a new threat to strike U.S. economic
interests until it renounced its “injustice and hostility” toward
Arabs and Muslims.
Last
month, in a similar tape, Bin Laden praised the “heroic jihad
operations” targeting the French oil supertanker off Yemeni coast and
U.S. forces in Kuwait.
In
a statement signed by his name, of which Al-Jazeera obtained a copy,
“Bin Laden” exhorted the Islamic nation to close ranks and overcome
differences.
In
his statement, Bin Laden stressed that priority must be given to
fighting Americans and Jews.
He
underlined that the American troops in Afghanistan failed to accomplish
their stated mission to arrest Taliban and Al-Qaeda, realize security
and stability in Afghanistan, and unify the country under a central
government.
Ever
since the U.S.-led attack on Afghanistan late last year, there has been
debate on whether Bin Laden was still alive.
A
former Afghan commander said in Pakistan on Monday, November 11, that
Bin Laden was still alive and hiding in Afghanistan.
