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"As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me to punish the unjust the same way," Bin Laden said
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WASHINGTON,
October 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In his first tape
in more than two years, Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden said the 9/11
attacks were motivated by injustice done to Muslims, warning they
stand a repeat if the same US policies remain unchanged.
The
new tape, aired on Friday, October 30, by Aljazeera news channel, drew
similar reactions from incumbent US President George Bush and his
presidential contender Senator John Kerry, Agence France Presse (AFP)
reported.
Apparently
sitting or standing at a table against a neutral brown background and
looking in good health, Bin Laden directly addressed the American
people about motivation behind the bloody attacks, which he claimed,
and avoiding others.
"Oh
American people, my talk to you is about the best way to avoid another
Manhattan; about the war, its causes and results," he said,
accusing Bush of misleading the American people about the reasons of
the 9/11 attacks.
"Despite
the fact that we are into the fourth year after September 11, Bush is
still misleading you and hiding the real reason from you, which means
that the reasons to repeat what happened remain.
"We
fought you because we are free and do not accept injustice," he
said.
Al-Qaeda
leader recalled he first got the idea of the 9/11 attacks after seeing
destroyed tower blocks in Lebanon following the Israeli invasion of
the Arab country in 1982 which, he said, were green lighted by the US.
"As
I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me to punish
the unjust the same way ... to destroy towers in America so that it
can taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children
and women."
Traded
Security
Bin
Laden said the US continues to kill innocent Muslims, including
children in Iraq, and consider that a legitimate act.
He
maintained that Washington dropped millions of tones of bombs on Iraqi
children with the only purpose of replacing an old agent with a new
one to plunder Iraqi oil wealth.
Just
four days before the presidential elections, Al-Qaeda leader told the
Americans that their security is not in the hands of either Bush or
his Democrat challenger John Kerry but depends on US policy.
"Your
security is not in the hands of Kerry, Bush or Al-Qaeda. Your security
is in your own hands. Any presidential mandate which does not play
havoc with our security would automatically ensure its own
security."
In
an audiotape broadcast by Arab satellite stations on Thursday, April
15, Bin Laden offered
truce to European countries if they stop attacking Muslims.
Negligence
Opening
his salvos at Bush, Bin Laden charged the incumbent president of
delegation of duty during the bloody September 11 attacks, saying he
was too slow to react to the first attack on the World Trade Center.
"We
had agreed with Mohammad Atta [the 9/11 hijackers’ leader], God rest
his soul, that he finishes all operations in 20 minutes before Bush
and his administration take notice," he recalled.
"It
never occurred to us that the commander in chief of the US armed
forces would leave 50,000 of his citizens in the two towers to face
these horrors alone at a time when they were most in need of
him," Bin Laden said.
"He
[Bush] reckoned that it was more important to preoccupy himself with
the talk of the little girl about her goat... than with the planes and
their strike on the skyscrapers, giving us three times the time
required to carry out the operations, thanks be to God."
The
comment referred to the famous moment when Bush carried on reading a
children's story to school children after being discreetly informed by
his aides about the airborne strikes on the World Trade Center in New
York.
Bush,
Kerry United
Bush
and Kerry were united in their response to the new tape of
Washington’s most, vowing to stand against the threat he poses.
"Let
me make this very clear. America will not be intimidated or influenced
by an enemy of our country," Bush told reporters.
"I
am sure Senator Kerry agrees with this.
"I
also want to say to the American people that we are at war with these
terrorists. And I am confident that we will prevail."
Kerry
made an equally blunt response, vowing to destroy Al-Qaeda leader if
he is elected president.
"In
response to this tape of Osama bin Laden, let me just make it clear,
crystal clear, 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," Kerry told reporters.
