AP; Reuters (with additional material by Ananova). 26 December 2001. Al-Jazeera TV Airs Bin Laden Tape Condemning United States; Bin Laden Says Crusader West Loathes Islam.
CAIRO -- A Qatar-based television station aired a videotape Wednesday of Osama bin Laden, whose statements indicated he was speaking in the first half of December. The chief editor of Al-Jazeera, Ibrahim Hilal, said his station received the tape "a couple days ago" by an air courier service from Pakistan. The sender was anonymous, he said. Hilal said the entire tape runs 33 minutes and will be shown on Al-Jazeera on Thursday. Only a few minutes was shown on the Wednesday night news. The last tape of bin Laden the station aired was on Nov. 3. Bin Laden, who is speaking in front of a brown backdrop, a gun propped up beside him, also refers to the bombing of a mosque in Khost, Afghanistan, saying it happened "several days" before. "All that you hear about mistaken strikes is a lie and a sheer lie," bin Laden said. "Several days ago, they bombed as, they claimed, 'positions of a Taliban base in Khost' and sent a missile to a mosque and said it was a mistake and after investigation it was clear that some religious scholars were praying." Bin Laden appeared stiff as he spoke. Though left-handed, he gestured only with his right, keeping the left still. "It is quite clear now that the West, generally speaking, and in particular America, has an indescribable hatred of Islam," he said. "The people who have lived the last months under the continual American air strikes, they know that very well. Many villages were wiped out for no crime and many millions were displaced in this cold weather." Bin Laden also condemned the United States as a nation that speaks about humanity and freedom but that commits crimes against millions of Afghans. "Our terrorism against America is a good terrorism to stop the oppressor from commiting unjust acts and to stop America supporting Israel, which is killing our children." He said he was speaking "three months after the blessed attack against international infidels and its leaders, the United States, and two months after the beginning of the vicious aggression against Islam." He accused the West of double standards in the bombing offensive against Afghanistan's erstwhile rulers, the Taliban, and its attacks on his al Qaeda network. "When the youths detonated (bombs) in Nairobi of less than two tons, America said that this was a terrorist strike and that this was a weapon of mass destruction, but it has used two bombs, each weighing seven tons, and it is not ashamed of that." "It is their right to annihilate people as long as they are Muslims and not Americans. This is a crime of its clearest form," he declared. Bin Laden said Washington had attacked Afghanistan on mere suspicion of involvement. "How many (Afghan) villages were annihilated without committing any crime? How many, if we calculate, millions of people were made homeless during the biting cold, and how many of these oppressed men, women and children are now sheltering in tents in Pakistan?" "They have not committed any crime. America launched this campaign based on a suspicion." _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
