[lit-ideas] more of Bin Laden's speech
- From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 23:58:23 EST
I have no comment.
Julie Krueger
<<Bin Laden: Goal is to bankrupt U.S.
Al-Jazeera releases full transcript of al Qaeda leader's tape
(CNN) -- The Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera released a full transcript
Monday of the most recent videotape from Osama bin Laden in which the head of
al Qaeda said his group's goal is to force America into bankruptcy.
Al-Jazeera aired portions of the videotape Friday but released the full
transcript of the entire tape on its Web site Monday.
"We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of
bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah," bin Laden said
in the
transcript.
He said the mujahedeen fighters did the same thing to the Soviet Union in
Afghanistan in the 1980s, "using guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to
fight tyrannical superpowers."
"We, alongside the mujahedeen, bled Russia for 10 years until it went
bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat," bin Laden said.
He also said al Qaeda has found it "easy for us to provoke and bait this
administration."
"All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point east
to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al Qaeda, in order to make
generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic and political
losses without their achieving anything of note other than some benefits for
their private corporations," bin Laden said.
Al-Jazeera executives said they decided to post the entire speech because
rumors were circulating that the network omitted parts that "had direct
threats
toward specific states, which was totally untrue."
"We chose the most newsworthy parts of the address and aired them. The rest
was used in lower thirds in graphics format," said one official.
U.S. intelligence officials Monday confirmed that the transcript made public
Monday by Al-Jazeera was a complete one.
As part of the "bleed-until-bankruptcy plan," bin Laden cited a British
estimate that it cost al Qaeda about $500,000 to carry out the attacks of
September 11, 2001, an amount that he said paled in comparison with the costs
incurred by the United States.
"Every dollar of al Qaeda defeated a million dollars, by the permission of
Allah, besides the loss of a huge number of jobs," he said. "As for the
economic deficit, it has reached record astronomical numbers estimated to
total
more than a trillion dollars.
The total U.S. national debt is more than $7 trillion. The U.S. federal
deficit was $413 billion in 2004, according to the Treasury Department.
"It is true that this shows that al Qaeda has gained, but on the other hand
it shows that the Bush administration has also gained, something that anyone
who looks at the size of the contracts acquired by the shady Bush
administration-linked mega-corporations, like Halliburton and its kind, will
be
convinced.
"And it all shows that the real loser is you," he said. "It is the American
people and their economy."
As for President Bush's Iraq policy, Bin Laden said, "the darkness of black
gold blurred his vision and insight, and he gave priority to private
interests over the public interests of America.
"So the war went ahead, the death toll rose, the American economy bled, and
Bush became embroiled in the swamps of Iraq that threaten his future," bin
Laden said.
U.S. government officials said Friday that the tape appeared to be authentic
and recently made. It was the first videotaped message from the al Qaeda
leader in nearly three years.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/01/binladen.tape/index.html >>
(http://ads.web.aol.com/link/93103276/aol)
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