Posted on 05/14/2004 2:25:37 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Al-Qaida's alleged leader in Saudi Arabia said in an Internet statement that the militant network was helping insurgents who are battling occupation forces in Iraq.
In the statement that surfaced Friday on an al-Qaida-linked online periodical, Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin said al-Qaida is in close contact with fighters in Iraq.
"By our jihad in the Arab peninsula, we are serving Iraq's cause and helping the mujahedeen (fighters) there, whom we are in close contact with," he said. "There is mutual support between the two of us and we are working on confusing the American enemy."
It was not immediately possible to verify the statement's authenticity.
Al-Moqrin, believed by U.S. and Saudi officials to be al-Qaida's top figure in Saudi Arabia, called on all Saudis and Muslims to take part in militant operations to reinstate Islamic law and expel Americans from Arab lands.
"Muslims should realize that jihad in this country - to apply sharia (Islamic law) and expel occupying Crusaders - is a duty for all able ones," the statement said.
He said al-Qaida relies on independent cells who function without "organizational cohesion" to carry out its goals, following the group's example and books and periodicals on how to carry out militant operations.
As an example, he praised one cell for a May 1 attack in the western Saudi city of Yanbu that killed five Westerners and a Saudi.
"The Yanbu Cell that implemented the heroic successful operation this month is one of the best examples of what is required," the statement said.
Saudi officials have blamed various entities for the attack, from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network to Saudi exiles in London, to the more vague "external forces."
Al-Moqrin has been accused in the Nov. 8 bombing at a Riyadh housing compound that killed 17 people, but not in the Yanbu shooting. An unsigned statement on the Internet on May 6, however, praised al-Moqrin for that attack.
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Nice of you fellas to stop by
what a surprise
If al-Qaeda is sufficiently engaged by the presence of US Marines in Fallujah, they cannot be out making mischief elsewhere in the world. They have only finite resources, and if they may be driven to waste them in fruitless battle, that is still a victory. But the future of the engagement that is taking shape, is that as the Iraqis assume more and more of their own policing and enforcement of civil order, and the coalition forces move more into an overseer mode, al-Qaeda and other foreign "resistance fighters" will abandon Iraq, striking at softer targets, and throwing their talents and weaponry into an engagement in another country, perhaps Algeria or Egypt, where there is sufficient blurring of the will to resist fundamental Wahhabist disciplines, and create a new "safe haven" for the regrouping and training of a resurgent guerrilla army.
"It was not immediately possible to verify the statement's authenticity."
If the only evidence is, something written on a radical muslim website. I choose to NOT take their word for it.
I still can't figure out why Al Qaeda cares what we do in Iraq. Didn't they get the memo that Al Qaeda has nothing to do with Iraq? In fact, as everyone knows, our efforts in Iraq are "distracting us" from the war against Al Qaeda. Yet Al Qaeda is there too. So they, as well, must be "distracted from" their war against us. We're BOTH "distracted"! What a silly situation!
Because now that Saddam the socialist and has been taken out(along with his skill of keeping the Islamists timid),they see the chance of turning Iraq into an Islamic state.
Ofcourse there was a connection,Saddam ritually tortured and murdered the AQ sympathizers(along with the majority Shia folk who were loyal to Iran,not the Baathists) so they wouldnt stir up any trouble in his utopian socialist pan-arabist country.
How true. This is a turf war. The Islamic Nazis are doing the bidding of the Imams who want more real estate and more power. They HAVE to fight like hell to get America out of the ME. Because once it gets to the point the sheep don't have to come and bleep 5 times a day the Mullahs lose their power. And the thugs that work for them have to quit acting like gang bangers and get real jobs.
This war has not even really begun. It's going to get nastier and dirtier. While we crybaby over people like this getting hazed by several morons that happen to be US soldiers our kids are fighting a real war. Against people that lurk and hide, dressed as civilians, just waiting to setoff remote controlled bombs and rip our kids to shreds.
Look at the link above and see what they did to the Russians. This is no Vietnam. We could afford to run away from Vietnam. We can't run away from this fight. Some morons like Ted Kennedy think so right now. But that will change because these people are going to hurt a lot of Americans at some point. It's their nature. The like killing.
Good post. Maybe we should just tell them "democracy" means they don't have to listen to the damn mullahs anymore, they can turn the mosque speakers off if they like and sleep in in the morning. And the "call to prayer" is an option. Along with being a buddhist, witch, Christian, Britney Spears worshipper or any other damn thing they want to be as long as they don't hurt other people. Except the mullahs, the can do whatever they want to those guys.
The fact that there have been no terror attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11/01 is directly attributable to the actions taken by GWB. Even if the invasion of Iraq has had the unintended result of drawing Al Qaida to Iraq, it has made the American homeland safer. If Kerry is elected, AQ will be in our backyards (again).
And a lot of citizens (some here ) just don't get that message!
Yes but lefties keep telling me that the war in Iraq has NOTHING to do with Al Qaeda, and that it's even a "distraction" from the fight against Al Qaeda. How can that be if Al Qaeda is in Iraq and has some ambitions there? Can lefties be wrong? No, there must be some other explanation.
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