Bin Laden Speaks!!!

Bin Laden: U.S. security depends on policy
Bush, Kerry comment on message
Friday, October 29, 2004 Posted: 6:25 PM EDT (2225 GMT)



Osama bin Laden delivers a videotaped message broadcast on Arabic language network Al-Jazeera.


(CNN) -- Osama bin Laden delivered a new videotaped message in which he told Americans their security does not depend on the president they elect, but on U.S. policy.

The tape was aired on the Arab language network Al-Jazeera Friday, just four days before the U.S. presidential election.

It's the first videotaped message from the al Qaeda leader in nearly three years.

Bin Laden said the message was being delivered directly to the American people, saying the attacks of September 11, 2001 were the result of U.S. foreign policy in Arab lands, specifically referring to Lebanon and the Palestinians.

At one point, he mentioned both President Bush and Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry.

"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands. Any nation that does not attack us will not be attacked," bin Laden said in the video.

Bush told reporters as he was boarding Air Force One for Columbus, Ohio, "Americans will not be intimidated or influenced by an enemy of our country. I'm sure Senator Kerry agrees with this. ... We are at war with these terrorists, and I am confident we will prevail."

Kerry told reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida: "Let me 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."

He added: "They are barbarians. And I will stop at absolutely nothing to hunt down, capture or kill the terrorists wherever they are, whatever it takes. Period."

Bin Laden criticizes Bush
Bin Laden sharply criticized President Bush for his behavior on the morning of September 11, 2001, when the president was reading "My Pet Goat" to a group of schoolchildren in Florida at the time he was informed of the attacks.

"It never occurred that the highest leader of the military armed forces would leave 50,000 people to face the horror that they faced all by themselves when they needed him most," bin Laden said.

"He was more interested in listening to the child's story about the goat rather than worry about what was happening to the towers. So, that gave us double the time for us to execute our attacks."

Bin Laden was wearing a gold robe with a white headdress and white cloak. He had a long mostly gray beard, and appeared to be sitting behind a desk, reading from a paper statement, occasionally moving his right hand as he spoke.

Intelligence officials have warned previously about the possibility of al Qaeda trying to attack the United States around the time of next Tuesday's election, similar to the al Qaeda train bombings in Madrid on March 11 before the Spanish presidential election.

"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands. Any nation that does not attack us will not be attacked."
-- Osana bin Laden

A U.S. government official said that based on initial analysis of the new bin Laden tape, "There have not been discussions about raising the nation's security posture or threat level."

The official said that the government is waiting for the intelligence community to further analyze the tape, but on first glance it did not appear to contain any specific threat information. The official said that among things analysts will be looking for are hidden messages.

In the video, bin Laden said he decided to attack the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1982 after the invasion of Lebanon by Israel.

"In those dark moments, my soul was thinking about lots of things that are hard to describe but they brought a feeling to do something about the aggressors and punish them," he said.

"When I looked at the towers that were destroyed in Lebanon, it occurred to me that we should do the same to them. And the towers in America should have fallen down in order for Americans to feel what we have felt."

He underscored it was U.S. foreign policy that led to the attacks, saying, "Bush has told you that we do not like freedom. Then, why didn't we hit Sweden?"

The statement aired Friday is the first videotaped message from the al Qaeda leader since December 2001.

Since he was last seen speaking on tape, at least seven audiotapes have surfaced on which a voice believed to be bin Laden issued messages. The most recent came in April, when he made references to the train bombings in Madrid the month before.

Al-Jazeera airs videotape by bin Laden
CAIRO (AP) — Osama bin Laden, addressing the American public four days ahead of presidential elections, said in a video aired Friday that the United States can avoid another Sept. 11 attack if it stops threatening the security of Muslims.

For the first time in more than a year, footage of Osama bin Laden emerged showing the al-Qaeda leader admitting to the Sept. 11 attacks.
AFP/Al-Jazeera

In the segment broadcast, the al-Qaeda leader refrained from directly threatening new attacks, although he said "there are still reasons to repeat what happened."

"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry, Bush or al-Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands," bin Laden said, referring to the president and his Democratic opponent. "Any state that does not mess with our security, has naturally guaranteed its own security."

Admitting for the first time that he ordered the Sept. 11 attacks, bin Laden said he did so because of injustices against the Lebanese and Palestinians by Israel and the United States.

It was the first footage in more than a year of the fugitive al-Qaeda leader, thought to be hiding in the mountains along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The video, broadcast on Al-Jazeera television, showed bin Laden with a long gray beard, wearing traditional white robes, a turban and a golden cloak, standing behind a table with papers and in front of a plain, brown curtain.

His hands were steady as he spoke and he appeared healthy.

The Bush administration said Friday it believes the videotape was authentic and had been made recently. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the administration did not plan to raise the nation's threat level for now. (Related story: U.S.: Video lacks explicit threat)

"All Americans are united in our strength and resolve to defeat the ideology that bin Laden articulates in this tape," McClellan said. "We are doing everything we can to prevail in the war on terrorism."

Al-Jazeera said it broadcast one minute of the five-minute tape. The station's spokesman, Jihad Ali Ballout, said they aired what was "newsworthy and relevant" and refused to describe the unaired portions, including whether they included any threats.

Al-Qaeda tapes at a glance:
Dec. 13, 2001: U.S. Defense Department releases videotape in which Osama bin Laden is shown at a dinner with associates in Afghanistan in November, saying the Sept. 11 attacks exceeded even his "optimistic" calculations.

April 15, 2002: A videotape broadcast by the Arab satellite television Al-Jazeera includes what appears to be a man identified as a Sept. 11 hijacker giving a farewell message along with clips showing bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. Al-Zawahri calls the terrorist attacks a "great victory."

November 2002: Al-Jazeera broadcasts a brief audiotape in which a voice attributed to bin Laden says the "youths of God" are planning more attacks against the United States. U.S. experts say the tape can't be authenticated because of its poor quality. The recording warns countries not to side with the United States.

Feb. 11, 2003: A voice purported to be bin Laden calls on Iraqis to carry out suicide attacks against Americans and defend themselves against a U.S. attack in a tape broadcast on Al-Jazeera. The voice urges Muslims to rise up against several U.S.-allied governments in the region. U.S. counterterrorism officials say the audio message was probably authentic.

Feb. 13, 2003: An audiotape purported to be of bin Laden reads a poetic last will and testament in a recording first obtained by the British-based Islamic Al-Ansaar news agency. Bin Laden says he wants to die a martyr in a new attack against the United States. It wasn't possible to verify the authenticity of the recording.

April 7, 2003: In an audiotape obtained by The Associated Press in Pakistan, bin Laden exhorts Muslims to rise up against Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other governments it claims are "agents of America," and calls for suicide attacks against U.S. and British interests. The CIA determines the 27-minute tape is likely authentic.

Sept. 10, 2003: Two taped messages accompany a video of bin Laden walking through rocky terrain with al-Zawahri. In one, a voice purporting to be bin Laden's praises the "great damage to the enemy" on Sept. 11 and mentions five hijackers by name. In the other tape, a voice said to be that of al-Zawahri threatens more attacks on Americans.

Jan. 4, 2004: A speaker thought to be bin Laden says on an audiotape broadcast on Al-Jazeera that the U.S.-led war in Iraq is the beginning of the "occupation" of Persian Gulf states for their oil. He calls on Muslims to keep fighting a holy war in the Middle East. Officials say it is probably authentic.

April 15, 2004: A man identifying himself as bin Laden offers a "truce" to European countries that do not attack Muslims, saying it would begin when their soldiers leave Islamic nations.

May 6, 2004: An online audiotape released on Islamic forums with the purported voice of bin Laden offers rewards of gold for the killing of U.S. and U.N. officials.

June 11, 2004: An audiotape purportedly carrying al-Zawahri's voice surfaces, in which he criticizes U.S. policies in the Middle East, particularly a reform plan for the region, saying it is a bid to replace Arab leaders.

Sept. 9, 2004: In a videotape broadcast by Al-Jazeera, al-Zawahri says the United States will ultimately be defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Oct. 1, 2004: An audio tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera and attributed to al-Zawahri calls on young Muslims to strike the United States and its allies.

Oct. 29, 2004: Al-Jazeera airs a video of bin Laden directly admitting for the first time that he carried out the Sept. 11 attacks and promising to outline "the best way to avoid another Manhattan."

From The Associated Press






There was no way to determine when the tape was made — but it offered evidence that bin Laden was alive and actively following events. Sen. John Kerry emerged as the Democratic candidate in the spring.

In Florida, Kerry said all Americans are united against bin Laden, adding he would "stop at absolutely nothing to hunt down, capture or kill the terrorists wherever they are, whatever it takes, period." (Related story: Bush, Kerry vow to hunt down bin Laden)

Bin Laden said he wanted to explain why he ordered the suicide airline hijackings that hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon so Americans would know how to avoid "another disaster."

"To the U.S. people, my talk is to you about the best way to avoid another disaster," he said. "I tell you: security is an important element of human life and free people do not give up their security."

He accused President Bush of misleading Americans by saying the attack was carried out because al-Qaeda "hates freedom." Bin Laden said his followers have left alone countries that do not threaten Muslims.

"We fought you because we are free .... and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours," he said.

He said he was first inspired to attack the United States by the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon in which towers and buildings in Beirut were destroyed in the siege of the capital.

"While I was looking at these destroyed towers in Lebanon, it sparked in my mind that the tyrant should be punished with the same and that we should destroy towers in America, so that it tastes what we taste and would be deterred from killing our children and women," he said.

"God knows that it had not occurred to our mind to attack the towers, but after our patience ran out and we saw the injustice and inflexibility of the American-Israeli alliance toward our people in Palestine and Lebanon, this came to my mind," he said.

Bin Laden suggested Bush was slow to react to the Sept. 11 attacks, giving the hijackers more time than they expected. At the time of the attacks, the president was listening to schoolchildren in Florida reading a book.

"It never occurred to us that the commander-in-chief of the American armed forces would leave 50,000 of his citizens in the two towers to face these horrors alone," he said, referring to the number of people who worked at the World Trade Center.

"It appeared to him (Bush) that a little girl's talk about her goat and its butting was more important than the planes and their butting of the skyscrapers. That gave us three times the required time to carry out the operations, thank God," he said.

In planning the attacks, bin Laden said he told Mohammed Atta, one of the hijackers, that the strikes had to be carried out "within 20 minutes before Bush and his administration noticed."

The image of bin Laden reading a statement was dramatically different from the few other videos of the al-Qaeda leader that have emerged since the Sept. 11 attacks.

In the last videotape, issued Sept. 10, 2003, bin Laden is seen walking through rocky terrain with his top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, both carrying automatic rifles. In a taped message issued at the same time, bin Laden praises the "great damage to the enemy" on Sept. 11 and mentions five hijackers by name.

In December 2001, the Pentagon released a videotape in which bin Laden is shown at a dinner with associates in Afghanistan on Nov. 9, 2001, saying the destruction of the Sept. 11 attacks exceeded even his "optimistic" calculations.

But in none of his previous messages, audio or video, did bin Laden directly state that he ordered the attacks.

U.S. authorities have long said they believe bin Laden is hiding in a rugged, mountainous tribal region of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan, but there has been no firm evidence of his whereabouts for three years.

The last audiotape purportedly from bin Laden came in April. The speaker on the tape, which CIA analysts said likely was the al-Qaeda leader, offered a truce to European nations if they pull troops out of Muslim countries. The tape referred to the March 22 assassination by Israel of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

Al-Zawahri, bin Laden's Egyptian deputy, has spoken on three recent audiotapes that emerged on June 11, Sept. 9 and Oct. 1 this year. In the latest, he called on young Muslims to strike the United States and its allies.


-----
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.

Dare I say that some of the things he said made sense?

The piece of the equation that is nearly always missing in this whole "war on terrorism" is the role we play in it. We created the monsters of Sadaam Hussein and Al Qaeda. We armed the forces that later became Al Qaeda in an effort to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan and give them their own Vietnam. Then we dumped them like hot potatos after we acheived our objective. We armed Sadaam and made no motions to stop him when he used chemical weapons on the Iranians and his own people.

We must examine our foreign policy and the role it plays in our interaction with other nations. For years we propped up regimes, just so long as they were playing on our terms, which completely ignores the interest of the people who live in the Middle East. I think these terrorists are disgusting maniacs that should be brought to justice and destroyed. However we cannot continue to ignore the reasons why people in that part of the world hate us so much. Bin Laden is right, they don't hate us for our freedom. That is nothing more than a political ploy. They hate us because of what our government has done to them for years. Our country is not an innocent bystander.

Elect someone on Tuesday who will approach foreign affairs with some semblance or rationale. Someone who can recognize facts on the ground. Someone who will not stubbornly keep the same course when it is proven to be of detriment to our nation.

Go Kerry!

Well I guess this does prove one thing. Bush will not be revealing the capture of Bin Laden in the next 4 days

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Dare I say that some of the things he said made sense?

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Well I guess this does prove one thing. Bush will not be revealing the capture of Bin Laden in the next 4 days

i read this story a few hours ago and i found it chilling and confounding. here's a man who's behind one of the biggest catastrophes this country has faced - a calculated murderer, a crazed funadamentalist - and some of his comments in this story are more sobering than anything our president has said in the past four years.

kinda difficult to process that, when the villain starts making more sense than the ostensible "hero".

Unfortunately, Bin Laden is right. Leaders won't stop America being attacked, only major policy shift will.

Stopping arming or raping the land in the middle east, will go a million miles further than any leadership change.

Sad as it may sound, when America starts to respect the rest of the world, the rest of the world will begin to respect America, including the terrorists.

Anxiety said:

i read this story a few hours ago and i found it chilling and confounding. here's a man who's behind one of the biggest catastrophes this country has faced - a calculated murderer, a crazed funadamentalist - and some of his comments in this story are more sobering than anything our president has said in the past four years.

kinda difficult to process that, when the villain starts making more sense than the ostensible "hero".

he does make sense, he's obviously smart and charismatic and america obviously needs to re-think her position on a lot in the way of policies, domestic and abroad.

but although i understand them, i dislike his jihad warriors and their delusional rationale for committing heinous acts.
[Edited 10/29/04 16:42pm]

sosgemini said:

[snip-sos]

MrTation said:

MrTation said:

these are pretty typical comments of todays liberal party. you guys accept everybody opinions .ect.... over your own countries. you blame nobody but america. everything in the world is america fault. UN says we lost all these explosives you believe them instead of your own. what does john kerry do he blames the soldiers and the president. what really happened they were blown up by responsible men doing there jobs, but just like he did 30 years ago. he blames his own soldiers and country. do you guys really believe that are soldiers are gonna follow this guy and respect him after he always takes the sides of other leaders. i agree i think there things bush has done that i thought he could do better. like falluja. i'm tired of pussyfooting around. i'm tired of this zarkawi (sp?) cutting heads off of people muslims too i might add and then everyone saying its americas fault. i think he should already busted some caps in some asses. i mean how hard is to go in there and get his ass instead of dragging it on.

i really just don't understand ya'll if america is so bad why do stay here. Bin laden killed 3000 + of your countryman and you feel his pain. i say fuck that mother fucker. i wanna kill that bitch. all them terrorist bitches. ( i am referring to terrorist not arabs before you guys jump me and supa calling me a southern racist AGAIN.)

bo11 said:

bo11 said:

bo11 said:

Anxiety said:

MrTation said:

bo11 said:

sosgemini said:

sosgemini said:

MrTation said:

sosgemini said:

dont :FUCK: with me...


period!!

...and there you have it ... With any due respect to you, you should not be moderating this forum...you have proven again that you cannot do it fairly...you constantly warn people who disagree with you and let others who share your veiws say anything they want to anybody....I know this is off topic ,but Ive enjoyed this site for years, and do not appreciate being snipped for stating my opinion....

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

MrTation said:

MrTation said:

sosgemini said:

dont :FUCK: with me...


period!!

...and there you have it ... With any due respect to you, you should not be moderating this forum...you have proven again that you cannot do it fairly...you constantly warn people who disagree with you and let others who share your veiws say anything they want to anybody....I know this is off topic ,but Ive enjoyed this site for years, and do not appreciate being snipped for stating my opinion....

MrTation said:

Anxiety said:

MrTation said:

Anxiety said:

nobody here is "supporting" bin laden or his theories. nobody is lionizing him. some of us are simply saying that he made some really interesting insights - that's all. nobody is "agreeing" with his actions or justifying what he's done. period.

there's no splinter cell of al-quada being formed at the org. nothing more to see here. move along.
[Edited 10/29/04 18:35pm]

Im not saying that there is... but how can anyone here claim that his insights are interesting when he resorts to mass murder to prove his point?
Did Charles Manson have interesting insights ,too?

I havent always agreed with America's foriegn policy either but I dont think killing civilians is the answer and I dont think our government should tolerate such actions...