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Bin Laden tape calls for boycott
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-28 08:15
In an audiotape broadcast Monday by Al-Jazeera satellite television, a man
purported to be Osama bin Laden endorsed Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in
Iraq and called for a boycott of next month's elections there.
![Exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, speaks in this 1998 file photo at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. In an audiotape broadcast Monday, Dec. 27, 2004 by Al-Jazeera satellite television, a man purported to be Osama bin Laden endorsed Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq and called for a boycott of next month's elections there. [AP/file]](xin_06120128081825008551.jpg)
Exiled Saudi
dissident Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect behind the Sept. 11, 2001
terrorist attacks in the United States, speaks in this 1998 file photo at
an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. In an audiotape broadcast Monday,
Dec. 27, 2004 by Al-Jazeera satellite television, a man purported to be
Osama bin Laden endorsed Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in
Iraq and called for a boycott of next month's elections there.
[AP/file] | The new tape, together with one that
appeared online earlier this month, continues a new political slant adopted by
the al-Qaida leader, whose past proclamations have been more a call to arms than
a promotion of a cause. They appear to back up recent suggestions by Middle East
experts that bin Laden may be trying to become more of a political leader than a
terrorist.
The voice on the tape described al-Zarqawi as the "emir," or prince, of
al-Qaida in Iraq and said Muslims there should "listen to him."
The man speaking on the tape also referred to an October statement in which
al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, declared allegiance to bin Laden and changed his
group's name to al-Qaida in Iraq. The speaker called that "a great step on the
path of unifying all the mujahedeen in establishing the state of righteousness
and ending the state of injustice."
The voice on the tape broadcast Monday sounded like bin Laden's and the
statement used language that appeared to conform with previous statements by the
Saudi-born terror mastermind. However, there was no way to independently confirm
the speaker's identity.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said it had not
been determined whether the speaker was bin Laden but "it's a message from
terrorists" and an attempt "by murderers to propagate their evil trade."
Al-Jazeera broadcast excerpts of the tape while showing a still photo of the
bearded bin Laden, wearing a white robe and head covering.
An Al-Jazeera announcer said the speaker on the tape also called for
attacking pipelines, planting mines and killing people who work for the
occupation forces.
Al-Zarqawi's group is believed responsible for numerous car bombings and
beheadings of foreign hostages in Iraq. The United States has placed a $25
million bounty on both bin Laden and al-Zarqawi.
Al-Zarqawi is believed to have escaped from his headquarters in the
insurgent-held stronghold of Fallujah during the massive U.S.-led assault in the
Iraqi city last month.
The speaker said al-Zarqawi and those with him are fighting "for God's sake."
"We have been pleased that they responded to God's and his prophet's order
for unity, and we in al-Qaida welcome their unity with us," the speaker said.
The speaker also said he was "pleased" with al-Zarqawi's "gallant operations"
against the Americans and interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's "apostate
government."
Iraqis are scheduled to elect a 275-member National Assembly on Jan. 30, and
those lawmakers will draft a new constitution. There have been calls to postpone
the election because of the ongoing insurgency, but US President Bush has
insisted the vote be held as scheduled.
The speaker condemned those elections.
"In the balance of Islam, this constitution is infidel and therefore everyone
who participates in this election will be considered infidels," he said. "Beware
of henchmen who speak in the name of Islamic parties and groups who urge people
to participate in this blatant apostasy."
He apparently was referring to Shiite clerics, particularly Grand Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani, who have issued edicts saying participating in the election was
a "religious duty."
Al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout refused to say how or when the station
received the audiotape.
This was the second tape purportedly made by bin Laden to surface this month.
An audiotape posted on an Islamic Web site Dec. 16 had a man identified as bin
Laden praising militants who attacked a U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia earlier
this month and calling on militants to stop the flow of oil to the West.
In October, bin Laden, who is believed hiding in the mountains along the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border, reached out to his followers with a videotape aired
on Al-Jazeera.
In that statement, he for the first time clearly took responsibility for the
Sept. 11 attacks on the United States and said America could avoid another
strike if it stopped threatening the security of Muslims.
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