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Following
is an AFP translation of Bin Laden’s message
"O
American people, this is what I have to say about the causes and
results (of the September 11, 2001 attacks) and the way to avoid
another Manhattan.
"I
tell you that security is a major pillar of human life. Free men do
not renounce their security, irrespective of (US President George W.)
Bush's claims that we hate freedom.
"Let
him (Bush) tell us why we did not attack Sweden, for example. It is
obvious that those who hate freedom cannot have the pride of the 19
(September 11 suicide hijackers), God rest their souls. If we fought
you, it is because we are free men, we do not ignore values, we want
to return freedom to our nation. If you play havoc with our security,
we play havoc with yours.
"You
astonish me. 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.
"I
will tell you about the reasons of these events and about the moments
in which the decision (to attack) was taken so you will ponder them. I
swear we never thought of attacking the towers, but when we saw the
injustice and arbitrariness of the US-Israeli alliance against our
brethren in Palestine and Lebanon, it became too much and the idea
came to me.
"The
events which affected me directly go back to 1982 ... when America
gave the Israelis the green light to invade Lebanon, with the backing
of the US Sixth Fleet. It is difficult to describe what I felt in
these painful moments, but it created an overwhelming feeling of
refusal of injustice and a compelling determination to punish the
unjust.
"As
I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me that the
unjust should suffer the same, that the towers in America must be
destroyed so that America gets a taste of what we went through, so
that it will stop killing our children and women.
"We
did not find it hard to deal with Bush and his administration given
the similarity with the regimes in our countries, half of which are
governed by soldiers and the other half by the offspring of kings and
presidents. We have a long experience with those. Both categories
count people who are arrogant, greedy and embezzle (public) funds.
"The
similarity began at the time of visits by Bush the father (former US
president George Bush) to the region. At a time when some of our
kinfolk were impressed by America and hoped that these visits would
impact on our countries, it turned out that he was the one affected by
these monarchies and military regimes, envying them for keeping their
posts tens of years, embezzling public funds without being held
accountable or monitored.
"He
transferred tyranny and repression of freedoms to his son and they
called it a national law (US Patriot Act, introduced) under the
pretext of combating terrorism.
"Bush's
father thought it was a good thing to put his sons to govern states.
And he did not forget to transfer (election-) forging skills from the
presidents of the region to Florida to use them in critical times.
"We
had agreed with (suicide hijacker) Mohammad Atta, God rest his soul,
that he finishes all operations in 20 minutes before Bush and his
administration take notice.
"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.
"He
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.
"Your
security is not in the hands of (Democratic presidential candidate
John) 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."
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