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Bin
Laden: West waging a crusade
Osama bin
Laden has said in an audiotape that recent events show that the West is at war
with Islam. In the
recording, aired by Aljazeera on Sunday, the al-Qaeda leader said the
isolation and denial of aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian government is one
such case. "The
blockade which the West is imposing on the government of Hamas proves that there
is a Zionist crusader war on Islam," he said. It is also not clear
when the recording, believed by Washington to be authentic, was made. Bin Laden also
said the Western public shared responsibility for the actions of their
governments, particularly for what he called their attacks on Islam. "The war
is a responsibility shared between the people and the governments," he
said. "The war goes on and the people are renewing their allegiance to
their rulers and masters. US
reaction US
intelligence agencies believe the latest tape is authentic, the White House said
on Sunday. After being
informed of the intelligence assessment, White House spokesman Scott McClellan
said in Twentynine Palms, California: "We are continuing to take all
terrorist threats seriously and that is why we are acting on all fronts doing
everything within our power to prevail in the war on terrorism. "The
al-Qaeda leadership is on the run and under a lot of pressure. We are
continuing to take the fight to the enemy abroad, and making it difficult for
them to plan and plot against America." At other
points in the message, bin Laden spoke about the conflict in Iraq and,
for the first time, the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.
He urged Muslim
supporters to go to Sudan to foil what he called Western, especially American, efforts
to divide the country. He also denounced the January 2005 north-south peace accord,
saying to "[Sudanese President] Omar al-Bashir and Bush that this agreement is
not worth the ink it was written with and does not bind us". Southern Sudan, he said, had to stay part of the
"Islamic lands". More than
three years of conflict between tribal rebels and government-backed militias in
Darfur has left about 300,000 people dead and forced more than two million people
from their homes. Commenting on
the message, Dia Rashwan, an expert on Islamic groups at the Al Ahram Centre for
Strategic Studies in Cairo, told Aljazeera the tape showed bin Laden returning
as leader after a long absence and calling on his soldiers to go to the
battlefield. Cartoons The al-Qaeda
chief also called on Muslims to expand the boycott resulting from the
publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers.
He said action
should be taken against the US and other European countries that have sided with
Denmark on the issue. Those that
have wronged the prophet should be handed over to al-Qaeda for judgment, he
said. In other parts
of the tape:
The last
recorded message from bin Laden, was aired by Aljazeera on January 19. In that
message he threatened new attacks against the US, but also offered the
American people a conditional "truce". The last time
the al-Qaeda leader was seen on camera was in a videotaped message released just
prior to the US presidential elections in late 2004. Aljazeera You can find
this article at: |
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