Bin Laden ‘Warns’ U.S. In New Audio Tape
September 13, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
An audio message purportedly by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has been released on an Islamist website. The message, entitled “a statement to the American people”, was about 10 minutes long and was accompanied by a still image of Bin Laden but no video.
In the message, a voice tells the US president that he is “powerless” to stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The message comes just two days after the US marked the eighth anniversary of the 11 September attacks on America.
‘No real change’
In the recording, the voice discusses what motivated the al-Qaeda network to launch the 11 September attacks. He explaining that they were, in part, fuelled by US support for Israel.
“The time has come for you to liberate yourselves from fear and the ideological terrorism of neo-conservatives and the Israeli lobby,” the voice in the tape says.
“The reason for our dispute with you is your support for your ally Israel, occupying our land in Palestine.”
The voice believed to be Bin Laden also speaks of how the conflict between al-Qaeda and the US may end.
“If you stop the war, then fine. Otherwise we will have no choice but to continue our war of attrition on every front [...] If you choose safety and stopping wars, as opinion polls show you do, then we are ready to respond to this,” it says.
In the message, the al-Qaeda leader accuses the new president of failing to fundamentally change foreign policy because of his decision to retain key figures from the previous administration, including Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
“If you think about your situation well, you will know that the White House is occupied by pressure groups,” he says.
Frankly, his message, albeit through translation, doesn’t seem as fanatical as previous ones. Perhaps, it seems he might be finally seeing that although Americans are complacent, we still don’t agree with the war in Iraq.
It almost seems like he is softening up a bit. Either his health is really bad, which can make one more complacent, or it just is not him. If it is him, maybe, they are just getting tired of getting hammered. I just wish our troops were not getting killed at the same time. I don’t believe pulling out without finding him as well as getting the Taliban under control would be a good idea. If we pull out now, it will go back to be right where we started. Bin Laden should offer himself up in exchange of moving troops out and that, we know, just won’t happen.
“war of attrition on every front”….interesting choice of words. The message was free of date refrences which seems to indicate that this could have been recored any time and he may be months old and indicates he may not be well informed to whats going on in the outside world.
If were supposto trust Bin Lauden shame on us. I really cant see us not supporting Isreal. We do this and whats the next step? You really think Isreal dosent mean that much? I for one dont think Id like to take that chance. But its not up to me. Perhaps one of these pressure groups hes reffering to in Washington?
I would prefer to see and read a word for word translation of his voice rather than snippets of it!