The main suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the US, Osama bin Laden, recently broke a long silence with a heated speech in which he assailed the UN as the main reason behind the miseries of the Arabs and Muslims. He also called the world body the founder of Israel.
Bin Laden portrayed the US attacks on Afghanistan and the so-called anti-terrorism campaign as a war between the Muslim East and the Christian West, a depiction of events rejected by the Arab League in its Damascus meeting Sunday.
Following are excerpts of the videotaped speech of the suspected terrorist mastermind, as aired by Al Jazeera satellite channel Saturday evening:
“Amid the escalating crisis and after the devastating and deadly attacks which hit America in its most sensitive sites in New York and Washington, an unprecedentedly immense media campaign was launched to shape public opinion about those events. People were divided into two camps: those who hailed these attacks against the American tyranny, and the second camp, which denounced the attacks.
After a short time, when the US launched its unjust military campaign against the Islamic Emirate (Afghanistan), people were also divided into two camps: the first supported this oppressive campaign and the second denounced it.
These major events, which have divided people into two sides, are vitally important to Muslims, and many [religious] judgements can be built on that. These events are related to Islamic doctrine and violations of it, and Muslims should understand the nature of this conflict and the facts surrounding it so that they can decide what side they should take.
Public opinion polls throughout the world have shown that more than 80 percent of the Western and Christian people in the US and other countries were saddened by these attacks.
In contrast, polls have shown that the great majority of people in the Islamic World were delighted with the attacks because they believed that they were a reaction and a response to the immense criminal acts of the US and Israel in Palestine and other Islamic countries.
After the US launched its military campaign against Afghanistan, the attitude of each party changed completely. Those who had been delighted with the attacks in the US became sad when Afghanistan was hit, while those who had been sad when America was hit, became delighted to see Afghanistan bombed by the US.
The entire West, except for a few, supports this brutal, oppressive and unjust campaign, for which the US has provided no evidence that proves the involvement of the Afghan people in the US attacks. Despite that, the campaign is continuing and is unjustly annihilating villagers, civilians, children, women,and other innocent people .
Both parties have shown their attitudes openly. Massive demonstrations erupted throughout the Eastern Islamic world from the farthest east to the farthest west including Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, in addition to the Arab World, Nigeria and Mauritania. These demonstrations clearly depict the nature of this war and that it is first and foremost a religious war. The people of the East, Muslims, responded and showed solidarity with other Muslims against the people of the West, the Crusaders. Those who try to hide this obvious fact are duping the Islamic nation and attempting to turn its face away from the real cause of this conflict.
This has its roots in the Holy Quran and our Prophet’s Sunnah [traditions]. This enmity between the unbelievers and us can in no way be overlooked. The conflict is religious and loyalty should only be to God and the believers. The unbelievers and atheists should be abandoned [by the Muslims].
This is a doctrinal conflict, contrary to how [US President George W] Bush or [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair portrays it, claiming that it is a war against terrorism… These crowds which have moved from the Far East to the far west took to the streets not for the sake of Osama, but for the sake of their religion. This is because these people know that they are right and resisting the fiercest, most brutal and violent Crusaders’ campaign against Islam since the mission of Mohammed, [Peace be Upon Him].
After things have become clear, a Muslim should realize and learn where to stand in this war. After all the American politicians spoke out and after their papers and (TV) channels were overflowing with Crusaders’ hatred for Islam, Bush mobilized the West and said it clearly that this war was a Crusade. He said these words in front of the entire world to confirm this fact. Where should all those who claim that the war was against terrorism go now? What type of terrorism are they talking about while the Islamic nation has been slaughtered for dozens of years without hearing anybody’s voice or feeling any move from anybody.
If the victim retaliates for the innocent children killed in Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Kashmir, or Philippines, the Sultans’ clerics and hypocrites come out to defend the apparent unbelief.
The people at large have understood the matter, while those who court the unbelievers have allied themselves with them to give our nation an anaesthetic, to deter it from carrying out its duties in Jihad for raising up God’s instructions.
The undoubted reality is that Bush has carried the cross, raised its flag high and stood at the beginning of the line. Everybody who stands behind Bush is considered to be committing one of Islam’s 10 crimes, which Muslim scholars have reached consensus on. Being loyal to the unbelievers and supporting them against Muslims is one of the greatest crimes against Islam.
Let’s see if this war launched against Afghanistan is a rare, isolated and independent event – or is it a link in a long chain of Crusader wars against the Islamic world?
After World War I, which ended more than 83 years ago, the whole Islamic World fell under the flag of the cross, under the British, French, and Italian governments, which divided this world among themselves. Palestine fell under the English regime. Since then and up to this moment, more than 83 years, our brothers, sons, and sisters in Palestine have been under oppression, with hundreds of thousands killed, hundreds of thousands jailed, and hundreds of thousands crippled.
Let’s look at the recent events. Chechenya is a Muslim nation, which has recently been attacked by the Christian Orthodox Russians, who have eradicated this nation and expelled its people to the mountains to face their destiny amid snow, poverty and diseases without anybody doing anything to save these victims. The annihilating war in Bosnia is also another example of war against Muslims in the heart of Europe. For many years our brothers have been killed. Our women have been raped. Our children are being killed in the safe havens designated by the United Nations, which sees and is informed of these massacres.
Those who want to solve our catastrophes these days through the UN are nothing but hypocrites duping God, his messenger and believers.
Is there any cause for our plight other than the UN? Who issued the resolution of dividing Palestine in 1947 and gave Muslims’ land to the Jews? The UN did so in 1947. Those who claim to be the Arab leaders and are still members of the UN do not believe in the Koran. Those who refer the issues to the international authorities are considered unbelievers in the authority of the Koran and our prophet’s Sunnah.
This is the UN, which we have been suffering under for a long time. Under no circumstances should a Muslim go to the UN, nor should a rational man do so. The UN is a tool of crime. We are slaughtered every day but the UN does nothing. Our brothers in Kashmir have been under oppression for 50 years. They are killed every day; their women are raped, their blood is shed, and their houses are demolished - but nobody raises his voice or does anything.
Today, the UN without any evidence issues resolutions supporting the oppressive and arrogant US against the weak and poor people of Afghanistan who have just emerged from a devastating war with the former Soviet Union.
Let’s take a look at the second Chechenyan war, which is still ongoing. An entire population is attacked for the second time by the Russian bear without any reaction by the humanitarian community, or even American agencies demanding Clinton halt support for Russia. Clinton responded that any end to support for Russia wouldn’t serve American interests. One year ago, Putin demanded the cross and the Jews to stand behind him and thank him for his war on their behalf against what he called Islamic fundamentalism.
With all clarity, the enemies speak out while the regional leaders hide their faces and feel scared to support their Muslim brothers and even prevent other Muslims from supporting their brothers.
Let’s look at the Western and UN attitude towards Indonesia. When these powers moved to break apart the biggest Muslim country in terms of population, this “criminal” Kofi Annan spoke out and demanded that Indonesia declare the separation of East Timor from Indonesia within 24 hours or face military intervention. The Crusaders’ Israeli forces were on the Indonesian shores and the separation took place.
We should look at the events as a continuous chain of conspiracies and war of extermination. In Somalia, under the guise of restoring hope, 13,000 of our Muslim brothers were killed. In southern Sudan, hundreds of thousands were killed. In Palestine and Iraq, the killing is ongoing, as one million Iraqi children were killed and the Palestinians are facing massacres every day.
No nation on earth can tolerate this, and I do not mean human beings alone - even animals cannot tolerate this. How can the poor mothers in Palestine tolerate seeing their sons being killed in front of them by the brutal Israelis, who receive every kind of support from the US, including warplanes and tanks?
Those who differentiate between America and Israel are the real enemies and betrayers of our Islamic nation. They are betrayers of God, his messenger and the Islamic nation.
Under no circumstances should we see these battles as isolated, but rather as part of a huge chain of a brutal, fierce and ugly Crusader war against Islam - Albawaba.com
