ngoshwe
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 31, 2009
- 4,141
- 951
Bin Laden warns US not to kill 9/11 mastermind
Osama bin Laden has warned Al-Qaeda will kill Americans if the mastermind of the 2001 attacks on the United States, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, is executed, in a tape Al-Jazeera television aired Thursday.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJVrmNUJt-Q"]YouTube- Bin Laden threatens US in new audio tape[/ame]
Bin Laden's latest statement was his first since January when he claimed …
"The White House has declared its wish to execute (Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and his co-accused). The day the United States takes such a decision, it would be also taking the decision that any of you falling into our hands will be executed," bin Laden said in the audio message.
The Al-Qaeda chief warned US President Barack Obama was "still walking in the footsteps" of his predecessor, George W. Bush, by escalating the war in Afghanistan.
Bin Laden also condemned Obama for "oppressing our prisoners that you are holding, beginning with the mujahid (holy warrior) hero Khaled al-Sheikh Mohammed."
US politicians, he added in the audiotape, had "oppressed us and still do, especially by backing Israel, which occupies the land of Palestine," said the Al-Qaeda chief.
The United States is just weeks away from a landmark decision on whether to try Sheikh Mohammed and his four alleged co-conspirators in a civilian federal court or in a military tribunal.
The Obama administration had announced it would them at a courthouse in New York, just steps from where the World Trade Center that collapsed in the 2001 attacks had once stood.
But the plan for the trial met a backlash from Republican lawmakers who have introduced legislation to require a military trial, throwing a challenge to Obama months ahead of mid-term elections in November.
Obama made bringing Sheikh Mohammed to a civilian trial a centrepiece of a broader plan to end what he saw as serious abuses of law in the time of Bush and his powerful vice president Dick Cheney.
Bin Laden's latest statement was his first since January, when he claimed responsibility for the botched Christmas Day bombing of a US airliner and vowed further strikes on American targets.
Bin Laden also referred to US support for Israel in the January message.
"God willing, our attacks against you will continue as long as you maintain your support to Israel," he said.
"America should not dream of security until we enjoy it as a reality in Palestine," said the Al-Qaeda chief, who has a 50-million-dollar bounty on his head.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100325/tpl-uk-usa-binladen-instantview-81f3b62_2.html
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJVrmNUJt-Q"][/ame]
Osama bin Laden has warned Al-Qaeda will kill Americans if the mastermind of the 2001 attacks on the United States, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, is executed, in a tape Al-Jazeera television aired Thursday.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJVrmNUJt-Q"]YouTube- Bin Laden threatens US in new audio tape[/ame]Bin Laden's latest statement was his first since January when he claimed …
"The White House has declared its wish to execute (Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and his co-accused). The day the United States takes such a decision, it would be also taking the decision that any of you falling into our hands will be executed," bin Laden said in the audio message.
The Al-Qaeda chief warned US President Barack Obama was "still walking in the footsteps" of his predecessor, George W. Bush, by escalating the war in Afghanistan.
Bin Laden also condemned Obama for "oppressing our prisoners that you are holding, beginning with the mujahid (holy warrior) hero Khaled al-Sheikh Mohammed."
US politicians, he added in the audiotape, had "oppressed us and still do, especially by backing Israel, which occupies the land of Palestine," said the Al-Qaeda chief.
The United States is just weeks away from a landmark decision on whether to try Sheikh Mohammed and his four alleged co-conspirators in a civilian federal court or in a military tribunal.
The Obama administration had announced it would them at a courthouse in New York, just steps from where the World Trade Center that collapsed in the 2001 attacks had once stood.
But the plan for the trial met a backlash from Republican lawmakers who have introduced legislation to require a military trial, throwing a challenge to Obama months ahead of mid-term elections in November.
Obama made bringing Sheikh Mohammed to a civilian trial a centrepiece of a broader plan to end what he saw as serious abuses of law in the time of Bush and his powerful vice president Dick Cheney.
Bin Laden's latest statement was his first since January, when he claimed responsibility for the botched Christmas Day bombing of a US airliner and vowed further strikes on American targets.
Bin Laden also referred to US support for Israel in the January message.
"God willing, our attacks against you will continue as long as you maintain your support to Israel," he said.
"America should not dream of security until we enjoy it as a reality in Palestine," said the Al-Qaeda chief, who has a 50-million-dollar bounty on his head.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100325/tpl-uk-usa-binladen-instantview-81f3b62_2.html
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJVrmNUJt-Q"][/ame]
Instant Analysis - Bin Laden threatens Americans with execution
Osama bin Laden threatened that al Qaeda would kill any Americans it takes prisoner if accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is put to death, according to an audiotape aired on al Jazeera on Thursday.
Here is some reaction to the statement.
OMAR ASHOUR, EXPERT ON ISLAMIST GROUPS, EXETER UNIVERSITY
"A lot of Arabs and Muslims frankly don't want to hear about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. They associate him with an event that cost a lot of lives and cost them a lot of pain. A lot of them have suffered because of 9/11. Now bin Laden is trying to link him with the issue of Palestine, which is a popular issue for Muslims.
"Bin Laden's threat is also a kind of message to his followers to say 'anyone who can go out and kidnap or kill an American should do so'. He's saying to the United States that it will be responsible for whatever happens to Mohammed."
ABDELBARI ATWAN, EDITOR AL QUDS AL ARABI NEWSPAPER
"It's the best time for bin Laden to attack Obama amid this controversy over the Israeli settlements. He is manipulating frustration among Arabs over the Israeli-Palestinian situation. He is seizing the opportunity to say to people that Obama is worse than Bush.
"Bin Laden is also expressing his fury about the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed case, because Mohammed is one of his closest friends and associates. The message sounds confident. It seems to me he is in a relatively safe place and he's in close touch with his followers. It could be that he's no longer in the remote place he once was in."
U.S. COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL
"It's the height of absurdity for anyone associated with al Qaeda to even suggest that now, at long last, they're going to start treating captives badly. They may have forgotten Danny Pearl and all the others they've slaughtered, but we haven't."
INTELCENTER, U.S.-BASED TERRORISM MONITORING FIRM
"The statement appears to be authentic. Bin Laden's specific threat serves as a valid indicator of an increased threat of kidnappings targeting Americans in the immediate period and following through the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial in the U.S."
"The threat of kidnappings will increase further as the trial begins. Attempts to kidnap Americans would not be limited to core al-Qaeda. The group's regional arms such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb, which has been aggressively targeting Westerners for kidnapping in North Africa, may follow through on bin Laden's threat.
