INDEPTH: OSAMA BIN LADEN
Bin Laden tapes
CBC News Online | Updated June 30, 2006
Excerpts from audiotape attributed to Osama bin Laden, June 30, 2006
"[Abu Musab] al-Zarqawi's story will live forever with the stories of the nobles, so don't cry over one who is not missing.
"He can teach the world a lesson on how to seize freedom … and how to resist tyrants.
"Even if we lost one of our greatest knights and princes, we are happy that we have found a symbol for our great Islamic nations, one that the mujahedeen will remember and praise in poetry and in stories secretly and aloud."
Addressing Jordan's King Abdullah, whose government said it would not allow al-Zarqawi's body to be buried there: "What scares you about Abu Musab after he's dead? You know that his funeral, if allowed to happen, would be a huge funeral showing the extent of sympathy with the mujahedeen."
Addressing U.S. President George W. Bush: "We will continue to fight you and your allies everywhere, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, to run down your resources and kill your men until you return defeated to your nation."
Excerpts from audiotape attributed to Osama bin Laden, May 23, 2006
"I begin by talking about the honorable brother Zacarias Moussaoui. The truth is that he has no connection whatsoever with the events of Sept. 11 …"
"His confession that he was assigned to participate in those raids is a false confession which no intelligent person doubts is a result of the pressure put upon him for the past 4½ years."
"And then I call to memory my brothers, the prisoners in Guantanamo — may Allah free them all — and I state the fact, about which I also am certain, that all the prisoners of Guantanamo, who were captured in 2001 and the first half of 2002 and who number in the hundreds, have no connection whatsoever to the events of Sept. 11 …"
"My mentioning of these facts isn't out of hope that Bush and his party will treat our brothers fairly in their cases, because that is something no rational person expects, but rather it is meant to expose the oppression, injustice and arbitrariness of your administration in using force and the reactions that result from that."
Excerpts from audiotape attributed to Osama bin Laden, April 23, 2006
"Their [the West's] rejection of Hamas affirms that it is a Crusader-Zionist war against Muslims …
"I call on the mujahideen and their supporters in Sudan ... and the Arabian peninsula to prepare all that is necessary to wage a long-term war against the Crusaders in western Sudan."
"Our goal is not defending the Khartoum government but to defend Islam, its land and its people …
"I urge holy warriors to be acquainted with the land and the tribes in Darfur …
"It is scornful to people that your [the West's] warplanes and tanks are destroying houses over the heads of our folk and children in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and Pakistan, then you smile at us and say that, 'We are not enemies of Islam but enemies of terrorists' …
"Reality shows that they lie."
Excerpts from audiotape attributed to Osama bin Laden, Jan. 19, 2006
"My message to you is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end them. I did not intend to speak to you about this because this issue has already been decided. Only metal breaks metal, and our situation, thank God, is only getting better and better, while your situation is the opposite of that.
"But I plan to speak about the repeated errors your President Bush has committed in comments on the results of your polls that show an overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. But [Bush] has opposed this wish and said that withdrawing troops sends the wrong message to opponents …
"I can reply to these errors by saying that war in Iraq is raging with no let up, and operations in Afghanistan are escalating in our favour, thank God, and Pentagon figures show the number of your dead and wounded is increasing not to mention the massive material losses …
"And so, to return to the issue, I say that results of polls please those who are sensible, and Bush's opposition to them is a mistake. The reality shows that the war against America and its allies has not been limited to Iraq as [Bush] claims. Iraq has become a point of attraction and restorer of our energies. At the same time, the mujahedeen, with God's grace, have managed repeatedly to penetrate all security measures adopted by the unjust allied countries. The proof of that is the explosions you have seen in the capitals of the European nations who are in this aggressive coalition. The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures. The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through [with preparations], with God's permission.
"Based on what has been said, this shows the errors of Bush's statement – the one that slipped from him – which is at the heart of polls calling for withdrawing the troops. It is better that [Americans] don't fight Muslims on their lands and that they don't fight us on ours.
"We don't mind offering you a long-term truce on fair conditions that we adhere to. We are a nation that God has forbidden to lie and cheat. So both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed in this war. There is no shame in this solution, which prevents the wasting of billions of dollars that have gone to those with influence and merchants of war in America who have supported Bush's election campaign with billions of dollars."
The following are excerpts from previously released tapes attributed to Osama bin Laden:
Oct. 7, 2001. Days after the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan, bin Laden is seen on a hillside in a recorded message where he said: "… these events have split the whole world into two camps - the camp of the faithful and the camp of the infidels. Every Muslim should support his religion … America is full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east … Our nation has been tasting fear, hatred and injustices for years."
Dec. 31, 2001. The Pentagon releases a home video it said was captured after the fall of Jalalabad, showing bin Laden at a dinner with visitors, probably at a house in Khandahar, telling his guests how the attack had exceeded expectations because he thought the fire would affect only the floors above where the planes hit, not collapse the buildings of the World Trade Center.
Dec. 26, 2001. A new tape of bin Laden surfaces, where he appears to take credit for the attacks. Bin Laden looks thin, tired, under strain and some analysts speculate that he was wounded or ill. The tape was shot with a blanket as a backdrop so it was hard to tell the location where it was recorded.
September 2002. A tape, said to be narrated by bin Laden, shows preparations for an attack while he praises the hijackers as "great men" who inspired the "hearts of the faithful."
November 2002. Al-Jazeera gets an audio tape where bin Laden praises the bombing in Bali in October that killed 202 and the recent attack on a Moscow theatre by Chechen rebels. Later U.S. intelligence analysts say it is bin Laden's voice on the tape, proof that he is alive.
February 2003. As tension increases in the Gulf prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an audio tape from al-Qaeda calls on Iraqis to carry out suicide attacks against Americans.
April 2003. AP receives a tape from al-Qaeda calling for Muslims to overthrow the governments in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bahrain and Kuwait, whom bin Laden calls "agents of America."
Sept. 10, 2003. Al-Jazeera receives a tape showing bin Laden and al-Zawahiri walking through the mountains, probably in Afghanistan, and discussing the second anniversary of the 2001 attacks. A few days later, al-Jazeera receives a second tape from al-Zawahiri calling on Pakistanis to overthrow the government.
October 2003. Two audio tapes and some videotape praise the suicide bombers who attacked Riyadh in May 2003 and call for attacks on the American and British troops in Iraq.
January 2004. Al-Jazeera broadcasts a new audio tape from bin Laden calling for attacks on the United States and a jihad against Saudi Arabia and other states that support the American occupation of Iraq.
April 15, 2004. A new bin Laden tape offers a "truce" to European countries that do not attack Muslims, and vows revenge for the Israeli assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin.
May 7, 2004. The CIA confirms that an audio recording posted on two web sites known for militant Islamic messages was "likely" from Osama bin Laden. The message from bin Laden offered gold to anyone who killed Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq; UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the UN special envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi.
Oct. 1, 2004. Bin Laden's top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri appears on a videotape urging young Muslim to attack the U.S. and its allies, even if al-Qaeda leaders are killed or captured.
Oct. 29, 2004. In a message broadcast by Al-Jazeera, Osama bin Laden claims direct responsibility for the 2001 attacks against the United States.
Nov. 29, 2004. Al-Jazeera airs a videotape of al-Zawahri where he vows to continue to fight the U.S. until the government changes its foreign policies.
Excerpts from the official U.S. government transcript of the audio tape believed to contain the voice of Osama bin Laden (Nov. 13, 2002):
The road to safety begins by ending the aggression. Reciprocal
treatment is part of justice.
The incidents that have taken place
since the raids of New York and Washington until now -- like the
killing of Germans in Tunisia and the French in Karachi, the
bombing of the giant French tanker in Yemen, the killing of Marines
in Failaka and the British and Australians in the Bali explosions,
the recent operation in Moscow, and some sporadic operations here
and there -- are only reactions and reciprocal actions.
These actions were carried out by the zealous sons of Islam in defense of
their religion and in response to the order of their God and
prophet. ... What Bush, the pharaoh of this age, was doing in terms
of killing our sons in Iraq, and what Israel, the United States'
ally, was doing in terms of bombing houses that shelter old people,
women and children with U.S.-made aircraft in Palestine were
sufficient to prompt the sane among your rulers to distance
themselves from this criminal gang.
Our kinfolk in Palestine have been slain and severely tortured
for nearly a century. If we defend our people in Palestine, the
world becomes agitated and allies itself against Muslims, unjustly
and falsely, under the pretense of fighting terrorism. What do your
governments want by allying themselves with the criminal gang in
the White House against Muslims? Do your governments not know that
the White House gangsters are the biggest butchers of this age?
Rumsfeld, the butcher of Vietnam, killed more than two million
people, not to mention those he wounded. Cheney and Powell killed
and destroyed in Baghdad more than Hulegu of the Mongols. What do
your governments want from their alliance with America in attacking
us in Afghanistan? I mention in particular Britain, France, Italy,
Canada, Germany and Australia.
We warned Australia before not to join in the war in
Afghanistan, and against its despicable effort to separate East
Timor. It ignored the warning until it woke up to the sounds of
explosions in Bali.
If you were distressed by the deaths of your men and the men of
your allies in Tunisia, Karachi, Failaka, Bali and Amman, remember
our children who are killed in Palestine and Iraq everyday.
If you were distressed by the killing of your nationals in
Moscow, remember ours in Chechnya. Why should fear, killing,
destruction, displacement, orphaning and widowing continue to be
our lot, while security, stability and happiness be your lot? This
is unfair. It is time we get even. You will be killed just as you
kill, and will be bombed just as you bomb. And expect more that
will further distress you.
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