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Osama Bin Laden's latest Message

01/07/2004

Click here for the complete transcript of the October 2004 Osama Bin Laden tape -with comments and analysis.

The following is the translated text of the latest Osama Bin Laden speech with announcer comments interspersed, as aired on Al Jazirah television on January 4, 2004 on the "Today's Harvest" program. CIA and other sources believe the message to be authentic. The tape was aired in segments, with interpolated announcer comments. The part aired by Al-Jazirah is apparently only a portion of the tape.

From Usama Bin-Muhammad Bin Ladin to his brothers and sisters in the entire Islamic nation: May God's peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you.

My message to you is about urging and continuing to urge for jihad to repel the grand plots that have been hatched against our nation, particularly because some of them have appeared clearly, such as the occupation of the Crusaders, with the help of the apostates, of Baghdad, the house of the caliphate, under the false pretence of weapons of mass destruction. There is also the ferocious attempt to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and destroy jihad and the mujahidin in beloved Palestine using the false pretence of the road map and the Geneva peace initiative.

The intentions of the Americans have also been clarified in statements about the need to change the beliefs, curricula, and morals of the Muslims to become more tolerant, as they put it. In clearer terms, it is a religious-economic war. The occupation of Iraq is a link in the Zionist-Crusader chain of evil. After it will come the full occupation of the rest of the Gulf states as a starting point for controlling and dominating the whole world, because the great powers believe that the Gulf and the Gulf states are the key to controlling the world due to the presence of the largest oil reserves there.

O Muslims: The situation is serious, and the calamity is momentous. By God, I am keen to safeguard your religion and your life in this world. So, lend me your ears and open your hearts to me so that we may examine these black misfortunes, and so that we may consider how we can find a way out of these adversities and calamities.

The West's occupation of our countries is old, yet new. The struggle between us and them, the confrontation, and clashing began centuries ago, and will continue because the ground rules regarding the fight between right and falsehood will remain valid until Judgment Day. Take note of this ground rule regarding this fight. There can be no dialogue with occupiers except through arms. This is what we need today, and what we should seek. Islamic countries in the past century were not liberated from the Crusaders' military occupation except through jihad in the cause of God.

Under the pretext of fighting terrorism, the West today is doing its utmost to tarnish jihad and kill anyone seeking jihad. The West is supported in this endeavor by hypocrites, because they all know that jihad is the effective power to foil all their conspiracies. Jihad is the path, therefore seek it. For if we seek to deter them with any means other than Islam, we would be like the one who goes round in circles. We would also be like our forefathers, the Al-Ghasasinah [Muhamed sent messengers to Ghasasinah, apparently a state in the north west, asking the people to convert to Islam, but they killed the messengers, and so were attacked and defeated]. The concern of their seniors was to be appointed officers for the Romans and to be named kings in order to safeguard the interests of the Romans by killing their brothers of the peninsular Arabs. That is the character of the new Al-Ghasasinah; namely, Arab rulers.

Muslims: If you do not punish them for their sins in Jerusalem and Iraq, they shall defeat you because of your failure. They will also rob you of land of Al-Haramayn [Mecca and Medina]. Today they robbed you of Baghdad and tomorrow they will rob you of Riyadh and so on unless God deems otherwise. Sufficient unto us is God.

How then ito stop this tremendous onslaught? In such dark times, some reformers claimthat all popular and official forces should unite, and that all government forces should unite with all their peoples. Everyone should do what is required to ward off this Crusader-Zionist onslaught. The question raised with emphasis is "Are the governments in the Islamic world capable of pursuing this duty of defending the faith and nation and renounce allegiance to the United States?"

The calls by some reformers are strange. They say that the path to righteousness and to defend the country and people passes though the doors of those rulers. I say to those reformers: If you have an excuse for not following jihad, it does not give you the right to depend on the unjust ones, thus becoming responsible for your sins as well as the sins of those you misguide.

Fear God for your sake and for your nation's sake. God does not need your flattery of dictators for the sake of God's religion.

Announcer

In his message, Bin Ladin strongly criticized the Arabian Gulf rulers, doubting on their ability to resist any possible US attack against their states.

To prove his point, Bin Ladin gave an historical example, such as these rulers' stand on what happened between Iraq and Kuwait in 1990 and 1991 and their hesitation in supporting the United States in its latest war against Iraq, which he attributed to their fears of the principle of changing regimes by force.

Bin Ladin also spoke about the arrest of Saddam Husayn, showing that the audio message was recorded recently.

Bin Ladin also criticized the Arab regimes' pursuing of their own people and accusing them of embracing the creed of Al-Khawarij [rebellious Islamic group in early Islam].

[Continue Begin Bin Ladin recording]

The Gulf states proved their total inability to resist the Iraqi forces. They sought help from the Crusaders, led by the United States, as is well known. How can these states stand up to the United States?

In short, these states came to America's aid and supported it in its attack against an Arab state which is bound to them with covenants of joint defense agreements. These covenants were reiterated at the Arab League just a few days before the US attack, only to violate them in full. This shows their positions on the nation's basic causes.

These regimes wavered too much before taking a stand on using force and attacking Iraq. At times they absolutely rejected participation and at other times they linked this with UN agreement. Then they went back to their first option. In fact, the lack of participation was in line with the domestic desire of these states. However, they finally submitted and succumbed to US pressure and opened their air, land, and sea bases to contribute toward the US campaign, despite the huge implications of this move. Most important of these implications is that this is a sin against one of the Islamic tenets. Most important and dangerous in their view was that they feared that the door would be open for bringing down dictatorial regimes by armed forces from abroad, especially after they had seen the arrest of their former comrade in treason and agentry to the United States when it ordered him to ignite the first Gulf war against Iran, which rebelled against it.

The war consumed everything and plunged the area in a morass from which they have not emerged to this day. They are aware that their turn will come. They do not have the will to make the difficult decision to confront the aggression, in addition to their belief that they do not possess the material resources for that. Indeed, they were prevented from establishing a large military force when they were forced to sign secret pledges and documents long ago.

In short, the ruler who believes in some of the above-mentioned deeds cannot defend the country. How can he do so if he believes in all of them and has done that time and again? Those who believe in the principle of supporting the infidels over Muslims and leave the blood, honor, and property of their brothers to be free for their enemy in order to remain safe, claiming that they love their brothers but are being forced to take such a path -- of course this compulsion cannot be regarded as legitimate -- are in fact qualified to take the same course against one another in the Gulf states. Indeed, this principle is liable to be embraced within the same state itself.

Those who read and understood the history of kings know that they are capable of committing more than these concessions, except those who enjoyed the mercy of God. Indeed, the rulers have practically started to sell out the sons of the land by pursuing and imprisoning them and by unjustly and wrongly accusing them of becoming like the Al-Khawarij sect who held Muslims to be infidels and by committing the excesses of killing them. We hold them to be martyrs and God will judge them.

All of this happened before the Riyadh explosions in Rabi al-Awwal of this year [May, 2003]. This campaign came within a drive to implement the US orders in the hope that they will win its blessings. [End recording]

Announcer Commentary:

Bin Ladin's message said that the Muslim rulers are not capable of confronting what he described as the US aggression, referring to the history of dealing with the Palestinian issue and explaining how the concessions made by the rulers since the beginning of the conflict show that they are willing to make concessions in the future. Bin Ladin criticized the Arab rulers' fighting of the Palestinian resistance as represented by the Sharm al-Shaykh summit in 1996, the Arab initiative in the Beirut summit, and the road map.

Bin Ladin also criticized the countries that stopped the financial assistance that was sent to the families of the Palestinian martyrs. He also criticized the Gulf governments' reception of members of the transitional Iraqi Governing Council in Iraq. In his message, Bin Ladin drew a comparison between the economic development of one country that was an Islamic country in the past; namely Spain, and the Arab countries whose collective economic capabilities are less than those of the Spanish economy.

Bin Ladin also said in his message that the reason for the deterioration of the Arabs and Muslims is due to ignoring Islam as a way for governing. He called on Muslims to establish a council for Ahl al-Hall wa al-Aqd [literally those who loose and bind; reference to honest, wise, and righteous people who can appoint or remove a ruler in Islamic tradition] to fill the vacuum that will result from the legitimate collapse of the governing regimes, as he asserted. He said that the task of this council is to unify the word and raise the flag of jihad to stop what he termed as the Roman raid against the Muslims, which started in Iraq.

[Continue Bin Ladin Recording]

Based on the above, the extent of the real danger, which the region in general and the Arabian Peninsula in particular, is being exposed to, has appeared. It has become clear that the rulers are not qualified to apply the religion and defend the Muslims. In fact, they have provided evidence that they are implementing the schemes of the enemies of the nation and religion and that they are qualified to abandon the countries and peoples. Now, after we have known the situation of the rulers, we should examine the policy they have been pursuing. Anyone who examines the policy of those rulers will easily see that they follow their whims and desires and their personal interests and Crusade loyalties. Therefore, the flaw does not involve a secondary issue, such as personal corruption that is confined to the palace of the ruler. The flaw is in the very approach. This happened when a malicious belief and destructive principle spread in most walks of life, to the effect that absolute supremacy and obedience are due to the ruler, and not to the religion of God. In other countries, they have used the guise of parliaments and democracy.

Thus, the situation of all Arab countries suffers from great deterioration in all walks of life, in religious and worldly matters. We have reached this miserable situation because many of us lack the correct and comprehensive understanding of the religion of Islam. Many of us understand Islam to mean performing some acts of worship, such as prayer and fasting. Despite the great importance of these rituals, the religion of Islam encompasses all the affairs of life, including the religious and the worldly, such as economic, military, and political affairs, as well as the scales by which we weigh the actions of men--rulers, ulema, and others--and how to deal with the ruler in line with the rules set by God for him and which the ruler should not violate. Thus, it becomes clear to us that the solution lies in holding fast to the religion of God, by which God granted us pride in the past centuries, and installing a strong and faithful leadership that applies the Qur'an an among us and raises the true banner of jihad.

The honest people who are concerned about this situation, such as the ulema, leaders who are obeyed among their people, dignitaries, notables, and merchants should get together and meet in a safe place away from the shadow of these suppressive regimes and form a council for Ahl al-Hal wa al-Aqd [ "those who loose and tie" - reference to honest, wise, and righteous people who can appoint or remove rulers in Islamic tradition] to fill the vacuum caused by the religious invalidation of these regimes and their mental deficiency. The right to appoint an imam is for the nation. The nation also has the right to make him correct his course if he deviates from it and to remove him if he does something that warrants this, such as apostasy and treason.

This temporary council should be made up of the minimum number of available personnel, without involving the rest of the nation, except what the religion allows in case of necessity, until the number is increased when the situation improves, God willing. Their policy should be based on the book of God and the Sunna of His Prophet, God's peace and blessings be upon him. They should start by directing the Muslims to the important priorities at this critical stage and lead them to a safe haven, provided that their top priority should be uniting opinions under the word of monotheism and defending Islam and its people and countries and declaring a general mobilization in the nation to prepare for repelling the raid of the Romans, which started in Iraq and no one knows where it will end. God is sufficient for us and He is the best support.

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Original text copyright by the author and MidEastWeb for Coexistence, RA. Posted at MidEastWeb Middle East Web Log at http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000155.htm where your intelligent and constructive comments are welcome. Distributed by MEW Newslist. Subscribe by e-mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Please forward by email with this notice and link to and cite this article. Other uses by permission.

by Moderator @ 12:35 AM CST [Link]

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Replies: 11 comments

We shall rise against osama

Posted by Mukhtar @ 01/07/2004 06:20 PM CST

we shall not be the ones who fight we muslims should be untied and bring peace to thise world.

Posted by mukhtar @ 01/07/2004 06:22 PM CST

We would also be like our forefathers, the Al-Ghasasinah [Muhamed sent messengers to Ghasasinah, apparently a state in the north west, asking the people to convert to Islam, but they killed the messengers, and so were attacked and defeated]. The concern of their seniors was to be appointed officers for the Romans and to be named kings in order to safeguard the interests of the Romans by killing their brothers of the peninsular Arabs. That is the character of the new Al-Ghasasinah; namely, Arab rulers.

Does anyone know whether the Ghasasinah were Muslim before converting to Monophysite Christianity?

According to a message posted a MIRA they were.

The Al-Ghasasinah were ancient Arabs who immigrated to Mesopotamia and the Levantine. They converted to Christianity and served under the occupying Byzantine army. The occupiers treated them lightly and enslaved them for sometime. Undoubtedly this will be the fate of whoever kneels down before the occupier. The occupier will mount and enslave him. History is the best proof of this.

This is the only example of the Ghasasinah having been converted to Christianity that I have seen.

Also, what is Saad Faqih's MIRA doing posting a pro-jihad message anyway?

I thought the reform that Faqih sought was not the bin Ladin kind.

Posted by Robert Stevens @ 01/08/2004 09:56 AM CST

What a croc. Bush and Osama's hoax of world polarization should be intolerable to everyone. No one was more happy about our invasion of Iraq than Osama. The two monsters, Bush and bin Laden, cling to each other as they scream "war" to the people of the world whom they hate, and toward whose ultimate apocalyptic demise they aspire. This website is trash too.

Posted by Frank Rizzo @ 01/08/2004 06:55 PM CST

Thank you for posting some of the most intelligent things I have seen on the web about the Bush vs: Bin Laden slugfest that the captive world must now watch as it plays itself out.

The real struggle here is between fundamentalism and realism. Here we have two arch fundamentalists, whose avowed goals seem to be to drag the rest of the world, kicking and screaming back to a place and time of endless crusades and jihads.

The rest of us seem to be powerless in the face of these two arch fundamentalists to stop them. It becomes our duty, as the realists, to simply allow the reality of human brotherhood to first become our reality, then to share it with all of those we can. Simple. Truth may sometimes be slow, but it will always eventually win out over falsehood.

Scott Perry

Posted by Scott Perry @ 01/11/2004 05:41 PM CST

Reply to Robert Stevens' comments:
The Ghassasinah were not Muslims before converting to Christianity, for the obvious reason that there were no Muslims before Mohamed. Arabs were pagan, and later were Jewish or Christian converts or remained pagan, worshiping any of several god-groups that were popular among the different tribes. Most of the Arabs who were Christian or Jewish had converted from paganism, with the exception of some Christians and Jews who may have been among those expelled from ancient Judea by the Romans.
According to most authorities, the Ghassassinah didn't migrate anywhere. They lived in the northwest corner of Arabia near and in what is now Jordan, and were one of several tribal "kingdoms." They were a protectorate of the Byzantines, who found it convenient to have such "buffer" states. Hira, in the northeast corner of Arabia was a protectorate of the Persian empire.

As far as I know, MIRA is a reform-advocating group, but they are pro-fundamentalist.

Ami Isseroff.

Posted by Moderator @ 01/12/2004 06:58 PM CST

Who ever does the killing without it being self-defense.....In any religion.....which in my opinion,,are we really fighting over religion????NOOOOO... But all this Osama Bin Crampa talk...why do we even publish it? He is not a great man, not even a leader...He hid....HID...anybody...Yeah that isn't a leader. Bush didn't hide and has went to Iraq----That is a leader. So in my opinion this war is for the good of the people, but war,,,is war...I am not a follower,,,believe me if Bush said strap a bomb on you and go in....I would not feel he is looking out for my intrest at all....Most people *most ignorant people- are easy to manipulate, that is all Bingy has done....sad really...

Posted by jackie evans @ 01/14/2004 11:29 AM CST

Forgot my whole point.....Killing is wrong,,,,,in any religion....

Those who do so unjustly they will be delt with...

So what about the good in the war..People started to understand and communicate..

I am joining the United States Army, not to fight (well unless needed) but to learn about other people in the world.

I see the war opening up windows never been open before. I see a set a new freedoms in iraq that came from a high cost ,,but I can see how this war may and could benefit people.

I don't think Bush is evil. If you're comparing him to Osama,,,wow you need to step out of church once and a while and observe...Learn about the religion of one,,,,not just the one religion...Ok I am done now...Thanks :-)

Posted by jackie evans @ 01/14/2004 11:40 AM CST

This web has done the, I think,obviously useless job of giving us crammed trash. Well, if you think your cause is right, ask Bin Laden to tell the world why he is hiddidng!!

Posted by Mugudde @ 01/17/2004 10:05 AM CST

Certainly Bin Laden has no right to kill anyone. But does anyone really have that right? More people have probably been killed in the name of "self-defence" than for any other reason. The reason I cannot understand why Bush feels justified in his responses to Bin Laden is because I do not feel I could ever support anyone who has a hair-trigger finger for war. Anyone who seems to make a career out of inventing reasons to go to war, such as WMD, when his own cabinet members admit that he told them he wanted a regime change in Baghdad in the first month of his presidency, has a little bit too much of an itch on his trigger finger for my comfort. I vote for the one who 'speaks softly and carries a big stick' (as FDR once said). Not for the one who is quick to berate and belittle anyone else in a position of authority who dares to disagrees with him AND carries the big stick. Heaven help us all if he wins the next election!

Scott Perry

Posted by Scott Perry @ 01/18/2004 07:04 PM CST

I think that George Bush is handling the war fairly nicely. He didn't go into a panic attack unlike some other people.Osama needs to realize that he will never beat the United States. He needs to come out of where he's hiding and be a man. He obviously can't defend his own country. He is not going to go to heaven that man doesn't deserve to go there.Well I let all that out.

Posted by rebecca donaldson @ 01/20/2004 04:23 PM CST


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