Al-Jazeera airs yet another Osama tape
13th November 2002
DOHA -- Osama bin Laden hailed the spate of terror attacks in the Arab world and Asia as well as last month's Moscow hostage-taking, and threatened US allies, in an audiotape attributed to him and broadcast by Al-Jazeera Television late on Tuesday.
'As you assassinate, so will you be (assassinated), and as you bomb so will you likewise be,' he said in the broadcast, against the background of a photograph of the Al-Qaeda terror network's leader, in turban and khaki jacket, a rifle at his side.
In the message to 'the peoples of countries allied to the United States', he warned them against the 'alliance between their governments and the United States to attack us in Afghanistan'.
He cited 'Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Germany and Australia'.
He hailed the attacks 'on Germans in Tunisia, on the French in Karachi, on Australians and Britons in Bali, against the French tanker in Yemen and against the US Marines in Failaka (Kuwait), as well as the recent hostage-taking in Moscow, all of which were the response of Muslims eager to defend their religion'.
'Australia was warned about its participation (in the war) in Afghanistan and its ignoble contribution to the separation of East Timor (from Indonesia). But it ignored this warning until it was awakened by the echoes of explosions in Bali,' the speaker said.
'If you suffer to see your (people) killed and those of your allies in Tunisia, in Karachi, in Falaika, Bali and Amman, remember our (people) killed among the children of Palestine, in Iraq...and in Afghanistan,' he added.
'As you look at your dead in Moscow, also recall ours in Chechnya.
'For how long will fear, massacres, destruction, exile, orphanhood and widowhood be our lot, while security, stability and joy remain remain your domain alone,' he asked.
Saying such an imbalance had come to an end, he added: 'It is high time that equality be established to this effect,' promising more terrorist operations against Western targets by young Muslims 'committed before God to pursue jihad (holy war)'.
The Qatar-based satellite channel did not provide any details on how it obtained the tape but said it showed that Osama was still alive at least until the Moscow hostage-taking in late October or the Oct 28 killing of a US diplomat in Amman.
A former Afghan commander said in Pakistan on Monday that he was still alive and hiding in Afghanistan. -- AFP |
