“Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood”
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“Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4743768/?GT1=3256
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Alleged bin Laden tape offers ‘truce’ to European nations
Britain, Germany, Italy
quickly reject the offer
NBC News and news services
April 15, 2004CAIRO, Egypt - In a recording broadcast on Arab satellite networks Thursday, a man who identified himself as Osama bin Laden offered a “truce” to European countries that withdraw from Muslims countries. Britain, Germany and Italy quickly spurned what appeared to be an attempt to drive a wedge between Europe and America.
The tape, which ran more than seven minutes, also vowed revenge against America for the Israeli assassination of a militant Palestinian leader and denounced the United States as using the Iraq war for corporate profiteering.
“I announce a truce with the European countries that do not attack Muslim countries,” the taped message said as the stations showed an old, still picture of al-Qaida leader.
“The door to a truce is open for three months.” This time frame, the voice said, could be extended. “The truce will begin when the last soldier leaves our countries,” the speaker said without elaborating.
In the United States, a CIA spokesman told the Associated Press that the agency was reviewing the tape in an effort to determine whether it was authentic.
Intelligence officials believe tape is authentic
But senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News that they expect the analysis will determine the speaker is bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
"We are looking at the tape, but there has never been a tape that they claimed to be authentic that wasn't," said one official, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity.
April 15: Sens. Joseph Biden and Richard Shelby speak with "Today" host Katie Couric about the new audio tape reportedly from Osama bin Laden.
Today show
The officials said that if confirmed to be authentic, the message would reflect a new tack by the al-Qaida leadership apparently aimed at driving a wedge between the United States and its allies.
The message broadcast Thursday addressed the Europeans as “our neighbors north of the Mediterranean,” a deviation from previous bin Laden messages lumping them in with the United States as part of the “Crusader-Jewish alliance,” they noted.
Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had the same reading of the message. He said on NBC's "Today" show that the tape showed bin Laden "was a very opportunistic guy. Now he's trying to separate us from the Europeans and Europeans from the U.S. It only matters if the Europeans respond."
Europeans reject ‘truce’ offer
The initial reaction from U.S. allies in Europe to the "truce" offer was negative. In London, the Foreign Office ruled out any deal with bin Laden.
"We can't negotiate with al-Qaida," the department said. "Their attacks are against the very idea of coexistence. ... The right response is to continue to confront terrorism, not give in to its demands."
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in Rome that "it's unthinkable that we may open a negotiation with bin Laden, everybody understands this."
A German government spokesman said, "There can be no negotiations with terrorists and serious criminals like Osama bin Laden."
Germany, although it opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, is now helping train Iraqi police. It also has been a leading contributor to the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. Several audio and video tapes of al-Qaida’s No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, have been released in recent months, but Thursday’s tape was the first purportedly from bin Laden since January. In that tape, a speaker believed to be the fugitive Saudi said on an audiotape that the U.S.-led war in Iraq was the beginning of the "occupation" of Gulf states for their oil and called on Muslims to keep fighting a holy war in the Middle East.
Obtained from “sources”
Ayman Gaballah, editor of Al-Arabiya, said only that the pan-Arab television network received the tape from “our sources.” He would not say if the tape was received at its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates or in a bureau elsewhere, such as Pakistan or Afghanistan.“From the voice, it seems it is bin Laden, but we are not experts to confirm it,” Gaballah said.Al-Jazeera, a Qatar-based satellite station, also aired the tape in full. Its chief editor wasn’t immediately available for comment.
In other parts of the tape, the voice defended al-Qaida’s methods.“They say that we kill for the sake of killing, but reality shows that they lie,” the speaker said.Russians, he said, were only killed after attacking Afghanistan in the 1980s and Chechnya, Europeans after invading Iraq and Afghanistan and the Americans in New York after “supporting the Jews in Palestine and their invasion of the Arabian Peninsula.”
“Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood,” the message added. “This is a difficult but easy equation.”
This truce, the message said, was to deny “the war mongers” further opportunities and because polls have shown that “most of the European peoples want reconciliation” with the Islamic world.
Reference to 9/11 and Madrid
In a reference to the attacks on the United States and Spain, the voice said that “what happened on September 11 and March 11 was your goods delivered back to you.”
“Security is a need for all humans and we could not let you have a monopoly on it for yourselves,” the voice added. “People who are aware would not let their politicians jeopardize their security.”The message also vowed revenge for Israel’s killing on March 21 of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas: “We vow before God to take revenge for him from America for this, God willing.”
The message said that American policy ignores the “real problem,” which is “the occupation of all of Palestine.”It denounced the U.S. war on Iraq, saying it was making “billions of dollars” for companies, “whether those that make weapons or those that take part in reconstruction,” naming the American firm Halliburton.
NBC News producer Robert Windrem and the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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give your thoughts on this. i dont know, but to me, this article proves the saying "every action has a reaction". it might not be bin laden saying it but it definitely shows the other side's mentality and why exactly there is so much resistance. what do you guys think?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Alleged bin Laden tape offers ‘truce’ to European nations
Britain, Germany, Italy
quickly reject the offer
NBC News and news services
April 15, 2004CAIRO, Egypt - In a recording broadcast on Arab satellite networks Thursday, a man who identified himself as Osama bin Laden offered a “truce” to European countries that withdraw from Muslims countries. Britain, Germany and Italy quickly spurned what appeared to be an attempt to drive a wedge between Europe and America.
The tape, which ran more than seven minutes, also vowed revenge against America for the Israeli assassination of a militant Palestinian leader and denounced the United States as using the Iraq war for corporate profiteering.
“I announce a truce with the European countries that do not attack Muslim countries,” the taped message said as the stations showed an old, still picture of al-Qaida leader.
“The door to a truce is open for three months.” This time frame, the voice said, could be extended. “The truce will begin when the last soldier leaves our countries,” the speaker said without elaborating.
In the United States, a CIA spokesman told the Associated Press that the agency was reviewing the tape in an effort to determine whether it was authentic.
Intelligence officials believe tape is authentic
But senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News that they expect the analysis will determine the speaker is bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
"We are looking at the tape, but there has never been a tape that they claimed to be authentic that wasn't," said one official, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity.
April 15: Sens. Joseph Biden and Richard Shelby speak with "Today" host Katie Couric about the new audio tape reportedly from Osama bin Laden.
Today show
The officials said that if confirmed to be authentic, the message would reflect a new tack by the al-Qaida leadership apparently aimed at driving a wedge between the United States and its allies.
The message broadcast Thursday addressed the Europeans as “our neighbors north of the Mediterranean,” a deviation from previous bin Laden messages lumping them in with the United States as part of the “Crusader-Jewish alliance,” they noted.
Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had the same reading of the message. He said on NBC's "Today" show that the tape showed bin Laden "was a very opportunistic guy. Now he's trying to separate us from the Europeans and Europeans from the U.S. It only matters if the Europeans respond."
Europeans reject ‘truce’ offer
The initial reaction from U.S. allies in Europe to the "truce" offer was negative. In London, the Foreign Office ruled out any deal with bin Laden.
"We can't negotiate with al-Qaida," the department said. "Their attacks are against the very idea of coexistence. ... The right response is to continue to confront terrorism, not give in to its demands."
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in Rome that "it's unthinkable that we may open a negotiation with bin Laden, everybody understands this."
A German government spokesman said, "There can be no negotiations with terrorists and serious criminals like Osama bin Laden."
Germany, although it opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, is now helping train Iraqi police. It also has been a leading contributor to the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan. Several audio and video tapes of al-Qaida’s No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, have been released in recent months, but Thursday’s tape was the first purportedly from bin Laden since January. In that tape, a speaker believed to be the fugitive Saudi said on an audiotape that the U.S.-led war in Iraq was the beginning of the "occupation" of Gulf states for their oil and called on Muslims to keep fighting a holy war in the Middle East.
Obtained from “sources”
Ayman Gaballah, editor of Al-Arabiya, said only that the pan-Arab television network received the tape from “our sources.” He would not say if the tape was received at its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates or in a bureau elsewhere, such as Pakistan or Afghanistan.“From the voice, it seems it is bin Laden, but we are not experts to confirm it,” Gaballah said.Al-Jazeera, a Qatar-based satellite station, also aired the tape in full. Its chief editor wasn’t immediately available for comment.
In other parts of the tape, the voice defended al-Qaida’s methods.“They say that we kill for the sake of killing, but reality shows that they lie,” the speaker said.Russians, he said, were only killed after attacking Afghanistan in the 1980s and Chechnya, Europeans after invading Iraq and Afghanistan and the Americans in New York after “supporting the Jews in Palestine and their invasion of the Arabian Peninsula.”
“Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood,” the message added. “This is a difficult but easy equation.”
This truce, the message said, was to deny “the war mongers” further opportunities and because polls have shown that “most of the European peoples want reconciliation” with the Islamic world.
Reference to 9/11 and Madrid
In a reference to the attacks on the United States and Spain, the voice said that “what happened on September 11 and March 11 was your goods delivered back to you.”
“Security is a need for all humans and we could not let you have a monopoly on it for yourselves,” the voice added. “People who are aware would not let their politicians jeopardize their security.”The message also vowed revenge for Israel’s killing on March 21 of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas: “We vow before God to take revenge for him from America for this, God willing.”
The message said that American policy ignores the “real problem,” which is “the occupation of all of Palestine.”It denounced the U.S. war on Iraq, saying it was making “billions of dollars” for companies, “whether those that make weapons or those that take part in reconstruction,” naming the American firm Halliburton.
NBC News producer Robert Windrem and the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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give your thoughts on this. i dont know, but to me, this article proves the saying "every action has a reaction". it might not be bin laden saying it but it definitely shows the other side's mentality and why exactly there is so much resistance. what do you guys think?
bboy Wesley West
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 15,390
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From: six-five-o
i think we should pull soldiers out but not all of them. these guerilla attacks are killing us and hostage situations are not very pretty since US doesnt deal with hostage situations. at least Bush is finally considering negotiating with the UN, i think.
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May 5, 2003 05:39 PM