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Bin Laden Tape Warns Iraqis To Resist Unity
CAIRO, Egypt (CBS) ― Osama bin Laden warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting al Qaeda and vowed to expand the terror group's holy war to Israel in a new audiotape Saturday, threatening "blood for blood, destruction for destruction."
The tape comes after Iraqi authorities said 75 percent of al Qaeda's network in Iraq has been destroyed.
Most of the 56-minute tape dealt with Iraq, apparently al Qaeda's latest attempt to keep supporters in Iraq unified at a time when the U.S. military claims to have al Qaeda's Iraq branch on the run.
The tape did not mention Pakistan or the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, though Pakistan's government has blamed al Qaeda and the Taliban for her death on Thursday. That suggested the tape was made before the assassination.
Bin Laden's comments offered an unusually direct attack on Israel, stepping up al Qaeda's attempts to use the Israeli-Arab conflict to rally supporters. Israel has warned of growing al Qaeda activity in Palestinian territory, though terror network is not believed to have taken a strong role there so far.
"We intend to liberate Palestine, the whole of Palestine from the (Jordan) river to the sea," he said, threatening "blood for blood, destruction for destruction."
"We will not recognize even one inch for Jews in the land of Palestine as other Muslim leaders have," bin Laden said.
In Iraq, a number of Sunni Arab tribes in western Anbar province have formed a coalition fighting al Qaeda-linked insurgents that U.S. officials credit for deeply reducing violence in the province. The U.S. military has been working to form similar "Awakening Councils" in other areas of Iraq.
Bin Laden said Sunni Arabs who have joined the Awakening Councils "have betrayed the nation and brought disgrace and shame to their people. They will suffer in life and in the afterlife."
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said bin Laden's tape shows that al Qaeda's aim is to block democracy and freedom for all Iraqis.
"It also reminds us that the mission to defeat al Qaeda in Iraq is critically important and must succeed," Fratto said. "The Iraqi people - every day, and in increasing numbers - are choosing freedom and standing against the murderous, hateful ideology of AQI. And we stand with them."
Several hours before the tape was issued, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, said al Qaeda was becoming increasingly fearful of losing the support of Sunni Arabs and had begun targeting the leaders of the Awakening Councils.
Petraeus said al Qaeda attaches "enormous importance" to "these tribes that have turned against them, and to the general sense that Sunni Arab communities have rejected them more and more around Iraq."
"They are trying to counter this and they have done so by attacking them," which is increasingly turning Sunnis against al Qaeda, he said.
In the audiotape, bin Laden denounced Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, the former leader of the Anbar Awakening Council, who was killed in a September bombing claimed by al Qaeda.
"The most evil of the traitors are those who trade away their religion for the sake of their mortal life," bin Laden said.
Bin Laden said U.S. and Iraqi officials are seeking to set up a "national unity government" joining the country's Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.
"Our duty is to foil these dangerous schemes, which try to prevent the establishment of an Islamic state in Iraq, which would be a wall of resistance against American schemes to divide Iraq," he said.
He called on Iraq's Sunni Arabs to rally behind the Islamic State of Iraq, the insurgent umbrella group led by al Qaeda. Besides the Awakening Councils, some Sunni insurgent groups that continue to fight the Americans have rejected the Islamic State.
Bin Laden said Sunnis should pledge their allegiance to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the little known "emir" or leader of the Islamic State of Iraq. U.S. officials have claimed that al-Baghdadi does not exist, saying al Qaeda created the name to give its coalition the illusion of an Iraqi leadership.
"Failure to give allegiance to the emir after he has been endorsed leads to great evils," bin Laden warned. "Emir Abu Omar would rather have his neck severed than betray the Muslims ... Emir Abu Omar and his brothers are not one of those who accept compromise or meeting the enemy halfway."
The authenticity of the tape could not be independently confirmed. But the voice resembled that of bin Laden. The tape was posted on an Islamic militant Web site where al Qaeda's media arm, Al-Sahab, issues the group's messages.
The tape was the fifth message released by bin Laden this year, a flurry of activity after he went more than a year without issuing any tapes. The messages began with a Sept. 8 video that showed bin Laden for the first time in nearly three years. The other messages this year have been audiotapes.
In an October tape, bin Laden sought to patch up splits between Iraqi insurgent factions, urging them to unite with the Islamic State of Iraq - the insurgent coalition led by al Qaeda. He took a conciliatory stance, chiding even al Qaeda's followers for being too "extremist" in their positions toward other insurgents.
Bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahri took a sharper tone in a Dec. 16 video, branding as "traitors" those who work with the anti-Qaida tribal councils and calling for Sunnis to purge anyone cooperating with the Americans.
Iraq's interior ministry spokesman said Saturday that 75 percent of al Qaeda in Iraq's terrorist network had been destroyed this year, but the top American commander in the country said the terror group remained his chief concern.
Maj. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said the disruption of the terrorist network was due to improvements in the Iraqi security forces, which he said had made strides in weeding out commanders and officers with ties to militias or who were involved in criminal activities.
He also credited the rise of anti-al Qaeda in Iraq groups, mostly made up of Sunni fighters the Shiite-dominated government has cautiously begun to embrace. Additionally, an increase in American troops since June has been credited with pushing many militants out of Baghdad.
Khalaf's assertion that three-fourths of al Qaeda in Iraq had been destroyed could not be independently verified and he did not elaborate on how the percentage was determined.
But violence in Iraq has dropped significantly since June - the U.S. military says it is down 60 percent nationwide - demonstrating success in fighting the terrorist network.
cbs2.com - Osama Bin Laden Tape Warns Sunnis To Resist Unity In Iraq
CAIRO, Egypt (CBS) ― Osama bin Laden warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting al Qaeda and vowed to expand the terror group's holy war to Israel in a new audiotape Saturday, threatening "blood for blood, destruction for destruction."
The tape comes after Iraqi authorities said 75 percent of al Qaeda's network in Iraq has been destroyed.
Most of the 56-minute tape dealt with Iraq, apparently al Qaeda's latest attempt to keep supporters in Iraq unified at a time when the U.S. military claims to have al Qaeda's Iraq branch on the run.
The tape did not mention Pakistan or the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, though Pakistan's government has blamed al Qaeda and the Taliban for her death on Thursday. That suggested the tape was made before the assassination.
Bin Laden's comments offered an unusually direct attack on Israel, stepping up al Qaeda's attempts to use the Israeli-Arab conflict to rally supporters. Israel has warned of growing al Qaeda activity in Palestinian territory, though terror network is not believed to have taken a strong role there so far.
"We intend to liberate Palestine, the whole of Palestine from the (Jordan) river to the sea," he said, threatening "blood for blood, destruction for destruction."
"We will not recognize even one inch for Jews in the land of Palestine as other Muslim leaders have," bin Laden said.
In Iraq, a number of Sunni Arab tribes in western Anbar province have formed a coalition fighting al Qaeda-linked insurgents that U.S. officials credit for deeply reducing violence in the province. The U.S. military has been working to form similar "Awakening Councils" in other areas of Iraq.
Bin Laden said Sunni Arabs who have joined the Awakening Councils "have betrayed the nation and brought disgrace and shame to their people. They will suffer in life and in the afterlife."
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said bin Laden's tape shows that al Qaeda's aim is to block democracy and freedom for all Iraqis.
"It also reminds us that the mission to defeat al Qaeda in Iraq is critically important and must succeed," Fratto said. "The Iraqi people - every day, and in increasing numbers - are choosing freedom and standing against the murderous, hateful ideology of AQI. And we stand with them."
Several hours before the tape was issued, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, said al Qaeda was becoming increasingly fearful of losing the support of Sunni Arabs and had begun targeting the leaders of the Awakening Councils.
Petraeus said al Qaeda attaches "enormous importance" to "these tribes that have turned against them, and to the general sense that Sunni Arab communities have rejected them more and more around Iraq."
"They are trying to counter this and they have done so by attacking them," which is increasingly turning Sunnis against al Qaeda, he said.
In the audiotape, bin Laden denounced Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, the former leader of the Anbar Awakening Council, who was killed in a September bombing claimed by al Qaeda.
"The most evil of the traitors are those who trade away their religion for the sake of their mortal life," bin Laden said.
Bin Laden said U.S. and Iraqi officials are seeking to set up a "national unity government" joining the country's Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.
"Our duty is to foil these dangerous schemes, which try to prevent the establishment of an Islamic state in Iraq, which would be a wall of resistance against American schemes to divide Iraq," he said.
He called on Iraq's Sunni Arabs to rally behind the Islamic State of Iraq, the insurgent umbrella group led by al Qaeda. Besides the Awakening Councils, some Sunni insurgent groups that continue to fight the Americans have rejected the Islamic State.
Bin Laden said Sunnis should pledge their allegiance to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the little known "emir" or leader of the Islamic State of Iraq. U.S. officials have claimed that al-Baghdadi does not exist, saying al Qaeda created the name to give its coalition the illusion of an Iraqi leadership.
"Failure to give allegiance to the emir after he has been endorsed leads to great evils," bin Laden warned. "Emir Abu Omar would rather have his neck severed than betray the Muslims ... Emir Abu Omar and his brothers are not one of those who accept compromise or meeting the enemy halfway."
The authenticity of the tape could not be independently confirmed. But the voice resembled that of bin Laden. The tape was posted on an Islamic militant Web site where al Qaeda's media arm, Al-Sahab, issues the group's messages.
The tape was the fifth message released by bin Laden this year, a flurry of activity after he went more than a year without issuing any tapes. The messages began with a Sept. 8 video that showed bin Laden for the first time in nearly three years. The other messages this year have been audiotapes.
In an October tape, bin Laden sought to patch up splits between Iraqi insurgent factions, urging them to unite with the Islamic State of Iraq - the insurgent coalition led by al Qaeda. He took a conciliatory stance, chiding even al Qaeda's followers for being too "extremist" in their positions toward other insurgents.
Bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahri took a sharper tone in a Dec. 16 video, branding as "traitors" those who work with the anti-Qaida tribal councils and calling for Sunnis to purge anyone cooperating with the Americans.
Iraq's interior ministry spokesman said Saturday that 75 percent of al Qaeda in Iraq's terrorist network had been destroyed this year, but the top American commander in the country said the terror group remained his chief concern.
Maj. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf said the disruption of the terrorist network was due to improvements in the Iraqi security forces, which he said had made strides in weeding out commanders and officers with ties to militias or who were involved in criminal activities.
He also credited the rise of anti-al Qaeda in Iraq groups, mostly made up of Sunni fighters the Shiite-dominated government has cautiously begun to embrace. Additionally, an increase in American troops since June has been credited with pushing many militants out of Baghdad.
Khalaf's assertion that three-fourths of al Qaeda in Iraq had been destroyed could not be independently verified and he did not elaborate on how the percentage was determined.
But violence in Iraq has dropped significantly since June - the U.S. military says it is down 60 percent nationwide - demonstrating success in fighting the terrorist network.
cbs2.com - Osama Bin Laden Tape Warns Sunnis To Resist Unity In Iraq