Portents of A Nuclear Al-Qaeda

Courtesy of Washington and by permission from the author, David Ignatius, Link to the article: Here

Rolf Mowatt-Larssen is paid to think about the unthinkable. As the Energy Department's director of intelligence, he's responsible for gathering information about the threat that a terrorist group will attack America with a nuclear weapon.

With his shock of white hair and piercing eyes, Mowatt-Larssen looks like a man who has seen a ghost. And when you listen to a version of the briefing he has been giving recently to President Bush and other top officials, you begin to understand why. He is convinced that al-Qaeda is trying to acquire a nuclear bomb that will leave the ultimate terrorist signature -- a mushroom cloud.

We've all had enough fear-mongering to last a lifetime. Indeed, we have become so frightened of terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001, that we have begun doing the terrorists' job for them by undermining the legal framework of our democracy. And truly, I wish I could dismiss Mowatt-Larssen's analysis as the work of an overwrought former CIA officer with too many years in the trenches.

But it's worth listening to his warnings -- not because they induce more numbing paralysis but because they might stir sensible people to take actions that could detect and stop an attack. That's why his boss, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, is encouraging him to speak out. Mowatt-Larssen doesn't want to anguish later that he didn't sound the alarm in time.

Mowatt-Larssen has been gathering this evidence since a few weeks after Sept. 11, when then-CIA Director George Tenet asked him to create a new branch on weapons of mass destruction in the agency's counterterrorism center. He helped Tenet prepare the chapter on al-Qaeda's nuclear efforts that appears in Tenet's memoir, " At the Center of the Storm." Now that the uproar over Tenet's mistaken "slam dunk" assessment of the Iraqi threat has died down, it's worth rereading this account. It provides a chilling, public record of al-Qaeda's nuclear ambitions.

Mowatt-Larssen argues that for nearly a decade before Sept. 11, al-Qaeda was seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction. As early as 1993, Osama bin Laden offered $1.5 million to buy uranium for a nuclear device, according to testimony presented in federal court in February 2001. When the al-Qaeda leader was asked in 1998 if he had nuclear or chemical weapons, he responded: "Acquiring weapons for the defense of Muslims is a religious duty. If I have indeed acquired these weapons, then I thank God for enabling me to do so."

Even as al-Qaeda was preparing to fly its airplane bombs into buildings, the group was also trying to acquire nuclear and biological capabilities. In August 2001, bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, met around a campfire with Pakistani scientists from a group called Umma Tameer-E-Nau to discuss how al-Qaeda could build a nuclear device. Al-Qaeda also had an aggressive anthrax program that was discovered in December 2001 after bin Laden was driven from his haven in Afghanistan.

Al-Qaeda proclaimed a religious rationale to justify the WMD attacks it was planning. In June 2002, a Kuwaiti-born cleric named Suleiman Abu Ghaith posted a statement on the Internet saying that "al-Qaeda has the right to kill 4 million Americans" in retaliation for U.S. attacks against Muslims. And in May 2003, at the same time Saudi operatives of al-Qaeda were trying to buy three Russian nuclear bombs, a cleric named Nasir al-Fahd issued a fatwa titled "A Treatise on the Legal Status of Using Weapons of Mass Destruction Against Infidels." Interrogations of al-Qaeda operatives confirmed that the planning was serious. Al-Qaeda didn't yet have the materials for a WMD attack, but it wanted them.

Most chilling of all was Zawahiri's decision in March 2003 to cancel a cyanide attack in the New York subway system. He told the plotters to stand down because "we have something better in mind." What did that mean? More than four years later, we still don't know.

After 2004, the WMD trail went cold, according to Mowatt-Larssen. Many intelligence analysts have concluded that al-Qaeda doesn't have nuclear capability today. Mowatt-Larssen argues that a more honest answer is: We don't know.

So what to do about this spectral danger? The first requirement, says Mowatt-Larssen, is to try to visualize it. What would it take for al-Qaeda to build a bomb? How would it assemble the pieces? How would the United States and its allies deploy their intelligence assets so that they could detect a plot before it was carried out? How would we reinvent intelligence itself to avert this ultimate catastrophe?

A terrorist nuclear attack, as Tenet wrote in his book, would change history. If we can see how this story might end, perhaps we can deflect the arrow before it hits its target.

The writer is co-host of PostGlobal, an online discussion of international issues. His e-mail address is davidignatius@washpost.com.

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Technorati tags: george tenet, cia, iran, nuclear weapons, al qaeda, David Ignatius, Mowatt-Larssen, Bush, Energy Department, DOE, Osama bin Laden, wmd, new york subway, Nasir al-Fahd, fatwa, Suleiman Abu Ghaith, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Pakistani scientist, us intelligence, Iran, Iraq, global war on terror, bin laden, Umma Tameer-E-Nau

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The Mother of Modern Terrorism

Courtesy of CBNNews.com

WASHINGTON - Iran still nags the U.S. almost 30 years following the hostage crisis that helped bring down a presidency.

The faces have changed but the White House still faces off with Tehran.

This time it's over charges of supplying weapons used to kill Americans in Iraq, pursuing nuclear weapons calling for the end of Israel.

The Mother of Modern Terrorism

Iran declared war on the U.S. in 1979. They've been killing Americans non-stop ever since then, and no American president has ever responded.

Conservative Michael Ledeen, author of The Iranian Time Bomb, calls Iran the "mother of modern terrorism." He says three decades of failed American diplomacy have continued under President Bush.

"As far as I can tell he doesn't have an Iran policy," Leeden said. "Even after several years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, where it was quite clear we were drowning in information that the Iranians were supporting both sides of the terror war against us, where Iranian weapons, Iranian intel agents, even Iranian troops were on the ground killing Americans.

Even then for the longest time our soldiers were told take it easy on the Iranians. It's only in the last several months that we've been able finally to shoot Iranians, capture Iranians and so forth and look at the reaction. The Iranian regime is furious, screaming."

Ledeen, whose son is a Marine now serving in Iraq, says the U.S. would be justified to take out terror-training camps inside Iran.

"We know Iraqis are brought into Iran for training in bases in Iran, and then they're sent back into Iraq, armed, trained, funded by the Iranians," he said. "And they come into Iraq to kill our guys."

U.S. Options Regarding Iran

Contrary to his image as eager for war with Iran, Ledeen is opposed to a U.S. bombing or invasion of Iran.

"Iran is a big country - 70 million people. Great killers. Very fanatical. Hate us passionately. You want to take them on, you have to be really serious. It takes a lot of effort. Lot of risk. Lot of money will probably cost some lives, if not our theirs. And it's unpleasant and there's every chance that you'll fail," Leeden said.

What are U.S. options? A White House push for tougher U.N. sanctions has been blocked by Russia and China. Critics of continued diplomacy question how America can bargain with Iran's mullahs who believe America's destruction is sanctioned by god.

"We've offered every carrot and brandished every stick by now," Leeden said. "You know, Einstein's definition of a madman is somebody who keeps doing the same thing, hoping to get a different result some day."

Iranian Revolution?

Ledeen believes a more lethal weapon exists: revolution.

"If you did a little check list on conditions for revolution: economic misery, political opposition to the regime, suffering by the people, long traditions of self-government and awareness of modern democracy and how it works and so forth. Iran fulfils every condition," he said.

"So Iran, if you're looking for a country where the people hate the regime, we know from the regime itself, from it's own public opinion polls, that 70 plus percent of the Iranian people hate the regime," Ledeen said.

But he believes that would require unprecedented action from the United States.

"They're terribly embittered right now because this administration has given all kinds of speeches about how they stand behind the Iranians - 'We hope Iran will become free, and so forth' - but we've never done anything. They are waiting to see us do something to support them.

America's concerns for its soldiers in Iraq, Israeli security on the line and a potential nuclear threat, the Iranian time bomb is ticking.

It's a bomb that could set off a diplomatic breakthrough , or a countdown to war.

INSIDE IRAN:

• Signs of the Apocalypse
• A Rising Chorus
• The Young and the Restless
• The Ultimate Martyrdom
• Truth and its Consequences

Technorati tags: iran, america, apocalypse, martyrdom, time bomb, iranians, terrorism, iraq, tehran, shah of iran, jimmy carter, nuclear option, israel, iranian revolution

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The War: According to the People Who Are Already There.

Email from Michael Yon:  Link to the online version.

Greetings:

Iraq is on the mend, al Qaeda is on the run, and the civil war has abated to a point where the term "civil war" no longer applies.

Accurate war coverage is increasingly important.  Even prominent seemingly well-informed persons can get it wrong, such as retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez who previously commanded the war in Iraq.  His recent public statements –selectively excerpted and then widely dispersed by the hot winds of media – made it clear that this former senior commander is far out of touch with the current situation. 
But there are commanders with a finger on the pulse. 

When earlier this year I wrote about the 1-4 CAV transforming an abandoned seminary in a Baghdad neighborhood that had been decimated by civil war, the "surge" had not even begun; but already pundits, politicians and editors had declared it a failure. Though I'd spent only a few days with LTC Crider and his 1-4 CAV soldiers at the new COP Amanche, I ended the dispatch on a note of hope based on observation. I recently received an email from LTC Crider with an update on that Baghdad neighborhood.  Please read "Achievements of the Human Heart" and see for yourself.

I was in al Basra province when I saw news reports claiming that Basra city had descended into chaos in the wake of an announcement about the draw down of British Soldiers.  I emailed the facts about Basra to several bloggers who hold the media accountable, and the resulting effort got the attention of Tom Foreman who anchors CNN's "This Week at War."  We were able to make a CNN interview, and the result is a segment that accurately reflects a complex and changing situation.  Bravo to CNN for setting the record straight, and to the tireless bloggers who are making a substantial difference in the way news about the war is delivered.

There are major developments to share with readers in upcoming dispatches. If things go at-least-mostly according to plan (which is all we can hope for in war), and if I can rely on the help of readers who share my frustration with the lack of accurate reporting, we can  significantly widen the stream of news flowing from Iraq so more people can obtain a truer picture.  This will require the will and generosity of readers.  But more on that, soon.

 
Michael Yon
Basra, Iraq

‘Grassroots’ will be catalyst for change in Baghdad, commander says

Courtesy of Multi-National Forces - Iraq

Saturday, 22 September 2007

In this file photo, U.S. Army Maj. Kevin Speilman, of Headquarters Company, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, listens to translation while speaking with village leadership during operations on the outskirts of Mosul. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Christopher Hubenthal.

BAGHDAD — The most encouraging recent development in Baghdad is the willingness of citizens to step forward and partner with Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) in defeating terrorism, the U.S. commander in charge of Coalition forces in the city said today.

Almost 8,000 Iraqi security volunteers are currently employed around the city and are being trained and integrated into the ISF, Army Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of Multi-National Division Baghdad, told Pentagon reporters via satellite. All over Baghdad, these volunteers are being trained by ISF and are partnering with them in operations, resulting in security gains, he said.

“I believe this shift with the population stepping forward has every potential to become the catalyst that brings truly enduring change for the better, certainly here in Baghdad and perhaps across the nation,” Fil said. “And I really sense the momentum … on both sides of the river in Baghdad and on the streets when we're working with the most senior Iraqi officials that I deal with.”

Partnerships of local citizens with the Iraqi government and security forces are another step forward in efforts to reduce violence and protect the population of Baghdad, Fil said. Since Operation Fardh al-Qanoon, which stands for “enforcing the law,” began in mid-February, overall attacks in Baghdad are down by more than 50 percent, he said. Small-arms attacks, car bombs, mortar and rocket attacks are all down by more than 50 percent. There also has been a steep decline in the number of improvised-explosive-device detonations, which he credited to the arrests of key cell members and an increased ability to find weapons caches.

Coalition and Iraqi forces have been making significant progress in securing Baghdad neighborhoods, Fil said. Before Operation Fardh al-Qanoon, about 70 percent of neighborhoods were in the “disruption” phase, which means they had not been cleared of insurgent activity, he said. Now, only 16 percent of neighborhoods are in disruption, and about 56 percent are in the “control” or “retain” phase, which means Coalition and Iraqi forces have a sustained presence.

“We've had some tough days battling al Qaeda and criminal militia, but here in the Multi-National Division-Baghdad we keep pounding away at our enemy, pushing him daily, and we've seen positive results from our persistent pressure,” Fil said.

The general acknowledged that while attack levels are down, the level of violence is still too high. In the first two weeks of September, extremist groups conducted mortar, rocket and explosively formed projectile attacks, rocket-propelled-grenade attacks against tanks, and surface-to-air missile launches. These attacks have continued despite Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s recent call for an end to violence, Fil noted. And while the Coalition is showing restraint in dealing with those who uphold that pledge, they will not show the same restraint in dealing with criminal militias armed by Iranian elements, he said.

The conditions of essential services throughout Baghdad range from very good to very poor, Fil said. Brigade combat teams and provincial reconstruction teams continue to work with local government officials and the government of Iraq on a variety of projects, including water, sewer, electricity and trash collection, and monitor and assist with fuel distribution to prevent criminal militias from interfering with or attempting to profit from fuel sales, he said.

“There is much work ahead, but what I see here in Baghdad is steady progress,” he said. “As the population senses a change in their security for the better and a change in local conditions, they are becoming more and more involved in both aspects in their communities. And that progress is a testament to our Soldiers, to the Iraqi Security Forces, and to the government of Iraq and the citizens of Baghdad, and they've all taken courageous steps forward and committed to taking a stand here against terror and against those who intimidate and murder.”

(Story by Sara Wood, American Forces Press Service)

In other developments throughout Iraq:

•           Youth soccer teams in the Zafaraniyah section of eastern Baghdad have a new set of equipment and uniforms thanks to Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces.

•           Iraqi Security Forces, with U.S. Special Forces as advisers, destroyed a major explosives cache near Sinjar in Ninewah Province Sept. 19 while conducting operations to disrupt al Qaeda in Iraq networks.

Al-Zawahiri to the U.S.: "Do Not Ask President Bush When The Soldiers Will Return– Ask Instead How Many Will Return"

VIEW THE NEW MEMRI TV WEBSITE AT: www.memritv.org

Special Dispatch-Jihad and Terrorism Studies Project  September 21, 2007

No. 1721

Al-Zawahiri to the U.S.: "Do Not Ask President Bush When The Soldiers Will Return– Ask Instead How Many Will Return"

To view this Special Dispatch in HTML, visit:
Al-Zawahiri to the U.S.: "Do Not Ask President Bush When The Soldiers Will Return– Ask Instead How Many Will Return".

The Islamist website www.ekhlaas.org/forum/, which is hosted by Layered Technologies, Inc. in Texas, USA, posted, on September 20, 2007, an 80-minute video of Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahiri speaking on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of 9/11.

The video was produced by the Al-Sahab media company in the month of Sha'ban, 1428 (August-September 2007), apparently prior to September 11, 2007, and is subtitled in English.

In the video, statements by Al-Zawahiri are interspersed with footage of jihad fighters in various places around the world, audio clips from Osama bin Laden's speeches, statements by Western commentators and U.S. officials, and more.

Following are the main points of Al-Zawahiri's statements in the video:

First, Al-Zawahiri expresses his condolences for the death of the martyr cleric Maulana Abd Al-Rashid Ghazi in Afghanistan, promises to avenge his death, and calls on Muslims to follow in his path and in the path of other jihad-fighting clerics.

Al-Zawahiri then accuses Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf of selling Pakistan's honor and religion, and says that Musharraf's forces are serving "the hunting dogs of the Crusaders-Zionists."

He then spoke of the Americans' defeat in Iraq by the jihad fighters; an announcer then attributes this to the "sacrifice of the jihad fighters, first among them Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi."

Al-Zawahiri then advised the Americans, "Do not ask President Bush when the soldiers will return; ask instead how many of them will return."

Al-Zawahiri called on the Muslims in the Maghreb to bring Andalusia back into the fold of Islam, and stated that this could only be done by "purging the Islamic Maghreb of the French and the Spanish who have returned there."

He calls on the Sudanese to wage jihad against the Crusader invasion of Darfur, as their brothers did in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

Further on in the video, Al-Zawahiri addresses the issue of jihad in Somalia, Chechnya, and Palestine, and calls on the Islamic nation to support the jihad fighters "under the victorious banner of the Prophet."

*********************

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle East. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background information, are available on request.
MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be used with proper attribution.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
P.O. Box 27837, Washington, DC 20038-7837
Phone: (202) 955-9070
Fax: (202) 955-9077
E-Mail: memri@memri.org
Search previous MEMRI publications at www.memri.org

Petraeus explains Iraq’s link to U.S. security, responds to criticism

Courtesy of Multi-National Force Iraq

Thursday, 13 September 2007

Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander, Multi-National Force-Iraq (right), and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace, fly to the Green Zone and survey the sites along the way in Baghdad, July 16, 2007. File photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen, Joint Combat Camera Center.

WASHINGTON — The top commander and diplomat in Iraq told reporters at the National Press Club today that what happens in Iraq is critical to long-term U.S. security.

“Achieving our national interest in Iraq is very important” and a critical part of the overall U.S. national strategy to make the country safer, said Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq. “The central front of al Qaeda’s global war on terror is in Iraq.”

Petraeus was joined at the Press Club event by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker.

Petraeus repeated the statement he made yesterday to the Senate Armed Services Committee that he couldn’t spell out exactly what impact al Qaeda resurgence in Iraq might have on the U.S. homeland.

“I was trying very hard yesterday to avoid becoming more than the MNFI commander,” he said. “And so when I was asked about the global war on terrorism, I thought that that perhaps is a question for those who are carrying out the global war on terrorism. I'm carrying out one piece of that, which is the part that is prosecuted inside Iraq.”

Petraeus said the U.S. strategy in Iraq is showing progress in flushing out al Qaeda and other extremists and reducing violence. Coalition and Iraqi operations have left al Qaeda “considerably diminished” and “much more on the run” than Petraeus said he could recall since they established themselves there. “We believe that al Qaeda in Iraq is off balance,” he said.

He emphasized, however, that evidence shows al Qaeda hasn’t given up and continues working to regain territory it’s lost. The terrorist group remains “very dangerous,” he said.

Petraeus said he considers al Qaeda in Iraq “the wolf closest to the sled” because it’s been behind the most horrific attacks in Iraq and has generated the most ethno-sectarian violence. Particularly since the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra in February 2006, this violence has been “tearing the fabric of Iraqi society,” he said.

Crocker said he’s convinced that any al Qaeda resurgence in Iraq would be devastating, not just to Iraq, but also to the United States. “We have to assume that anywhere al Qaeda can find operating room, space, the ability to organize … (and) consolidate, they are going to use that to come after us,” he said.

Petraeus and Crocker told reporters the troop surge in Iraq is showing progress in countering the threat al Qaeda and other extremists pose. They pointed to evidence of that progress: reduced violence, greater Iraqi security force responsibility, and increased tribal cooperation with Coalition efforts.

This assessment, which they delivered over the past two days to the Senate and House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, drew sharp criticism from some corners and, in some cases, personal attacks.

The general, who stated at all three congressional hearings this week that his assessment reflected his views alone -- not those of the Pentagon, the White House or Congress -- said a poem by Rudyard Kipling proved helpful as his integrity came under attack.

Kipling’s poem, “If,” begins, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you. …” It goes on to talk about the importance of trusting yourself when others doubt you and of maintaining your principles even when you’re hated, lied about and condemned.

Pressed to comment on the attacks against him, Petraeus offered a simple response. “I disagree with the message of those who are exercising the 1st Amendment right that generations of soldiers have sought to preserve for Americans,” he said. “Some of it was just flat completely wrong, and the rest is at least more than arguable.”

Petraeus showed more of his human side as today’s news conference opened, initially telling reporters he planned to begin by reviewing the statement he’d made during the past two days of hearings.

“Actually, I’m not sure if even I can bear giving the shortened version of my opening statement for a fourth time,” he laughed. “And I know you don’t want to hear it for a fourth time.”

(Story by Donna Miles American Forces Press Service)

In other developments throughout Iraq:

• Coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained 13 suspected terrorists during raids Wednesday to disrupt al-Qaeda in Iraq’s ability to operate in central Iraq.

• Two people were freed from captivity and four others arrested and charged with kidnapping after a tip-driven raid was conducted by soldiers of the 4th Battalion, 5th Division, 6th Iraqi Army at the Salhiyah Apartments Saturday.

Egyptian Playwright Ali Salem Speaks Out Against 'Culture of Death'

Courtesy of MEMRI

Special Dispatch-Egypt/Reform Project
September 13, 2007 , No. 1713

Egyptian Playwright Ali Salem Speaks Out Against "Culture of Death"

To view this Special Dispatch in HTML, visit: HTML Link HERE

The following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian playwright Ali Salem, which aired on Abu Dhabi TV on August 16, 2007.

To view this clip, visit: Video Clip Link HERE

To view the MEMRITV webpage on Egyptian playwright Ali Salem, visit: "Whoever Tells You That Bread is More Important Than Freedom is a Fraud And a Thief"

Ali Salem: "There is no contradiction between freedom and what I call the 'pot of meat.' I will go even further, and say that the 'pot of meat' – not to mention the fruit, bread, salt, pepper, and salads, and on cold winter nights, hopefully a bowl of soup – bears an inherent connection to philosophy and freedom. If you are free, you can plant your field, and raise buffaloes and cows, and you are free to go and sell them at the market.

"You have a trade that earns you money, and there is a merchant who will buy and slaughter them, and then he will sell it at the market. In such a case, you are working at a job that brings you money. You need a society with freedom in politics, economy, and education in order for this cycle to be complete. Whoever tells you that bread is more important than freedom is a fraud and a thief.

"The meat, in this case... There are also cheese, olives, and pastrami, and there are shoppers at the supermarket – all these things require political and economic freedom.

[...]

"The Culture of Death is a Culture of Irresponsibility"

"The culture of death is a culture of irresponsibility. It is a culture in which a person considers all the 'others' to be his enemies. He is terrified of them, and he feels he must finish them off before they finish him off. In addition, this culture does not glorify life – although life is the greatest thing Allah has created for us. I'm not relying on any religious authority or historical examination, but I can only give you my personal opinion. Allah created us in order to enjoy this beautiful universe, and in order to make it even more beautiful, or at the very least, to keep it beautiful.

[...]

"It is in the interest of the people of this region to achieve peace."
Interviewer: "You've visited Israel, and you are one of the supporters of peace."

Ali Salem: "True."

"We Have Finished the Conflict of War, And We Enter the Competition of Peace"

Interviewer: "Some people criticize you for this stand. In brief, on what objective foundations do you base your defense of peace?"
Ali Salem: "When you suffer such an ignominious defeat as in 1967, and when you begin to uncover what your mistakes were, you begin to think that you must not be defeated in peace as well, that you must not lose the battle for peace as well as the war.

[...]

"We have finished the conflict of war, and we enter the competition of peace. Peace is not a beautiful garden, in which we and the Israelis will sit together. Peace is a venue for competition. Human jealousy requires us not to be inferior to them in terms of democracy, human rights, import, export, education, and scientific research."

[...]

Interviewer: "How do you view the future of political Islamic movements, and their connection to Arab society in particular?"
Ali Salem: "Arab history is full of such movements. In elementary school, we used to read: 'And then the Sultan wiped them out,' or 'Then the Emir finished them off,' or 'Then he went to the city and turned it to rubble.' Times have changed, and no one is allowed to wipe out anybody. Today, the [Islamists] are not the main force. They are in the opposition. The public is learning every day that this kind of conflict will get them neither a Palestinian state nor human rights."

*********************

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle East. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background information, are available on request.
MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be used with proper attribution.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
P.O. Box 27837, Washington, DC 20038-7837
Phone: (202) 955-9070
Fax: (202) 955-9077
E-Mail: memri@memri.org
Search previous MEMRI publications at www.memri.org

Bin Laden set to release a NEW video

Courtesy of Drudge Report

As al Qaeda chatter picks up just before the 6th anniversary of 9/11, AP is reporting this morning that Bin Laden is set to release another video. Apparently, Bin Laden will be presenting the last testament of one of the Sept. 11 homicide hijackers on the new video set for release today.

If you recall that last week, Bin Laden tried to justify the 9/11 attacks, which, he claimed, "further harmed America's reputation and its prestige worldwide..." Bin Laden mocked the Democrats for failing to stop the war in Iraq and called for the Michael Moore crowd to step up their anti war rhetoric, "Now that your representatives in the Democratic party failed to fulfill your desire to stop the war, you can keep marching in the streets of big [U.S.] cities holding up anti-war signs......"

Bin Laden appeared to be issuing a warning (da'wa) to the infidels of America and the west to convert to Islam or perish, "The biggest and most irreversible error one can commit in this world is to die without surrendering oneself to Allah, namely, to die without embracing Islam......"

The Sahih Muslim Hadith, [Book 019, Number 4294] indicates that a Muslim da'wa is required before an all out onslaught with the infidel western enemies.

Is an attack imminent? Only the radical Islamists know for sure. We should be prepared to unite against them and drive them from the face of the earth. My message for the liberal crowd is that you don't know what you are up against.

Be ever vigilant.

UPDATE: Latest on Fox News regarding the new video, 9/10/2007

Sept. 11 Hijacker's 'Last Testament': Al Qaeda announces it will release new video of Usama bin Laden presenting last testament of one Sept. 11 hijacker

Bin Laden's Video Message to the American People

Special Dispatch – Jihad & Terrorism

September 10, 2007 

No.1709

Osama Bin Laden's Video Message to the American People

To view this Special Dispatch in HTML, visit:
Osama Bin Laden's Video Message to the American

On September 8, 2007 the Islamist forum http://al-ekhlaas.org, hosted by Layered Technologies, Inc. in Texas, USA, posted a video message from Osama bin Laden to the American people titled "The Solution."
The following are excerpts.

Bin Laden opens his message by discussing the effect of the 9/11 attacks, which, he claims, "further harmed America's reputation and its prestige worldwide..." He goes on to characterize U.S. policies throughout history, and more recently in Iraq, as morally reprehensible. For example, he presents Bush's claim that the U.S. is "cooperating with Al-Maliki's government in order to spread freedom in Iraq" as an attempt to cover up Bush's "true intentions," which are "to work with leaders of one sect in Iraq against another sect" in hope that this will turn the war in his favor, while in fact this policy has precipitated a civil war "which [Bush] can no longer control." Thus, bin Laden claims that while the U.S. "proclaim[ed] the slogans of justice, freedom, equality, and humaneness," in reality its policies yielded "fear, destruction, killing, famine, illness, and vagrancy." As a result of this war, he continues, "there are more than one million orphans in Baghdad alone, and hundreds of thousands of widows... The American's [own] statistics... [reveal] that more than 650,000 people have been killed in Iraq as a result of the war and its consequences."

Bin Laden then points out that the Democrats have so far failed to stop the war in Iraq, despite winning the congressional elections. He interprets this as an indication that wealthy individuals still dominate policy decisions, and says to the Americans, "Now that your representatives in the Democratic party failed to fulfill your desire to stop the war, you can keep marching in the streets of big [U.S.] cities holding up anti-war signs," but this will be to no avail.

Bin Laden then adds that "there are [nevertheless] two [ways] to bring [the war] to an end. The first... is for us to continue killing and fighting you with ever increasing intensity [until we defeat you]... The second is... [for you] to liberate yourselves from the deception and restrictions... inflicted upon you by the capitalistic system... in the same way you liberated yourselves from the monks and kings that once enslaved you, and from feudalism." The goal of the capitalist system, he warns, is to turn the entire world into a fief controlled by large corporations..."

As an alternative to the capitalist system, bin Laden offers Islam. He calls upon the Americans to embrace Islam, saying: "The biggest and most irreversible error one can commit in this world is to die without surrendering oneself to Allah, namely, to die without embracing Islam." He warns that, once the owners of the major corporations realize that the Americans people have lost confidence in the democratic system and have started searching for an alternative, i.e., Islam, "they will run after you to please you and fulfill your every desire, in order to turn you away from Islam." He therefore advices the Americans not to waver in their pursuit of Islam, since the benefits they will receive by embracing it are numerous, including a significant reduction in taxes, since Islam does not impose taxes beyond the mandatory 2.5% Zakat (i.e., alms) tax.

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Damascus airport called Al Qaeda hub

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Courtesy of World Tribune

Damascus airport called Al Qaeda hub

WASHINGTON — Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, has been recruiting support for legislation that would sanction Damascus International Airport.

Lieberman said the airport has become the major conduit for Al Qaeda fighters to Iraq as well as Iranian weapons shipments to Lebanon. He based his assertion on briefings from the U.S. military.

On Thursday, the Bush administration released an unclassified version of a national intelligence estimate that supported Lieberman's allegations against Syria. But the report said Damascus, despite its increase in support for militias in Iraq, has cracked down on Al Qaeda in wake of a determination that the Islamic movement threatens Syrian national security.

Lieberman said U.S. intelligence has determined that the lion's share of Sunni volunteers fly into Damascus International Airport and then proceed overland to Iraq. He said this makes Damascus the hub of Al Qaeda travel in the Middle East.