Bin Laden Tape Warns Iraqis To Resist Unity

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GraceAbounds

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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
 
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IntruderLS1

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This guy must have felt SOOOO close for so long to accomplishing something concrete, and now he's stuck watching it all fall apart.

Poor poor Osama. :D
 

debbie t

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i understand that sheik khalid shahudh has been quoted as saying that ,there are no enemies except al qaeda,the americans are not our enemy any more

its a start and certainly a nice start to 2008:)
 

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I highly doubt this is actually Osama. Seems we only get audio tapes now, and no longer get video. And unity in Iraq is no where near close to happening.
 

dt3

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I highly doubt this is actually Osama. Seems we only get audio tapes now, and no longer get video. And unity in Iraq is no where near close to happening.
The intelligence community is pretty good at matching up the voice in new tapes to the voice in old videos, and can tell without a doubt if it's him or not ;)
 

ssl

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the intelligence community is also very intelligent with their own agendas, so it would not be difficult for them to create their own tapes for their own purposes.. or the purposes for others...
 

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The intelligence community is pretty good at matching up the voice in new tapes to the voice in old videos, and can tell without a doubt if it's him or not ;)

The intelligence community is also pretty good at fabricating à la WMD.

So taking their word just because of who they are is not such a wise idea.
 

GraceAbounds

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Some people lie - in the intelligence community, in the media, where you work, in your family, in your home, etc. etc.

By your logic, no one should work and we should trust no one because humans sometimes lie.

I don't even agree with you that our intel intentionally lied. But even if I did, it is illogical to think we don't need an intelligence community and that all of their information is faulty and they are all lying. Those thoughts just serve a bias.
 

skyblue

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The intelligence community is also pretty good at fabricating à la WMD.

So taking their word just because of who they are is not such a wise idea.

of course saddam had WMD's.......before the invasion a convoy of lorries was seen going into syria........and what do you use to inflict the wholesale gassing of kurdish villages?
 

Tim

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of course saddam had WMD's.......before the invasion a convoy of lorries was seen going into syria........and what do you use to inflict the wholesale gassing of kurdish villages?

Of course he HAD WMD's, no one disputes that. The gassing of the Kurds happened 20 years ago when he had them... the WMD intelligent dispute goes to whether he had them and was expanding his program in 2002 when we invaded. That was the overall basis of our invasion of Iraq. That is where the intelligence community got it wrong... or should I say, that is where the Bush administration told the country that he still had them and was continuing to build his arsenal.

...Kinda like Iran and the nuclear weapons that they are building........ Not
 

COOL_BREEZE2

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Oh the doubting Thomases. :D

Just lay back and don't believe anything and do nothing. They're nice guys and they would never do anything....because they just won't...the terrorists. SMH and LOL.
 

skyblue

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so because he gassed kurds 20 years ago does that make him innocent......he had to be brought to book for his actions........the coalition knew how dangerous he was so they took action......simple as that.......and this iran thing......maybe they are developing neuclear power to use as energy.......but with all the hate being spouted off by them can you put your hand on your heart and say they'll never use it on war heads

we're not talking about modern thinking people here.....we're talking about people with a dark ages mentality to everything they dont believe as true
 

Peter Parka

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Of course Saddam was a nasty piece of work but so are many other regimes across the globe, it dosen't give us the right to start a war on them though! Lets not forget who Saddam got his WMDs from to gas the Kurds in the first place anyway!
 

Tim

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so because he gassed kurds 20 years ago does that make him innocent......he had to be brought to book for his actions........the coalition knew how dangerous he was so they took action......simple as that.......and this iran thing......maybe they are developing neuclear power to use as energy.......but with all the hate being spouted off by them can you put your hand on your heart and say they'll never use it on war heads

we're not talking about modern thinking people here.....we're talking about people with a dark ages mentality to everything they dont believe as true

You are 100% correct. He was guilty and needed to be held responsible for gassing the Kurds... But was invading his country and the resulting loss of life worth it? He killed 5000 Kurds with the nerve gas, but well over 100,000 innocent Iraqis have died due to the invasion. Was that the right thing to do?

As far as Iran is concerned... It is NEVER ok to attack another country for what they "might" do down the road.
I would love to know when that became the norm. When did it become ok to start a war over what another country might do? It's against international law to preemptively attack another country for a very good reason .
 

Pudding Time

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Some people lie - in the intelligence community, in the media, where you work, in your family, in your home, etc. etc.

By your logic, no one should work and we should trust no one because humans sometimes lie.

I don't even agree with you that our intell intentionally lied. But even if I did, it is illogical to think we don't need an intelligence community and that all of their information is faulty and they are all lying. Those thoughts just serve a bias.

You took my words too far then. My logic was, why have an intelligence agency when they fabricate intell? The whole point of having an intelligence agency is to know what's going on anywhere in the world. But if they fabricate intell, then they completely contradict the point of having an intelligence agency.
 

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of course saddam had WMD's.......before the invasion a convoy of lorries was seen going into syria........and what do you use to inflict the wholesale gassing of kurdish villages?

Bloody Friday was back in 1988. And was carried out by chemical agents given to the Iraqi's by the Americans.

Now if trucks were seen exporting these chemicals to Syria before the invasion, why have we not done anything about Syria then? They hate us just as much, if not more than Saddam did. And Syria has the ability to attack Israel with these chemicals by way of Hamas, yet all Hamas has done since then is launch crappy little rockets into Israel.

I find it very hard to believe these chemicals still existed.
 
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