Terror outfit vows to continue attacks on Europe: report

NewIndPress ^ | Friday July 2 2004

[Stoat]

LONDON: A group related with Al Qaida said it would continue to attack Europe after a three-month truce apparently promised by terrorist leader Osama bin Laden ends July 15, reports said here.

A group called Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades sent a letter to a Britain-based Arabic language newspaper saying: "To the European people... you only have a few more days to accept Bin Laden's truce or you will only have yourselves to blame," Xinhua reports.

"Muslims in the West should leave for Muslim states if they can," the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper quoted parts of the letter said to be from the group that claimed responsibility for the March 11 train bombings in Spain.

"Those who cannot should take precautions and live in Muslim areas, have enough food to last a month, find ways to protect themselves and their families, leave enough money in the house to last one month or longer and pray a lot and put their fate in god's hands," the group said.

According to the paper, the letter was dated July 1. The authenticity of the letter has not been verified.

An offer, said to be from Bin Laden, said April 15 that Al Qaida would extend a truce to European countries if they withdrew troops from Muslim nations, which had been rejected by several European nations.

[Stoat]

Note to Spain: Your capitulation to the terrorists has bought you just over two months of uneasy peace. Was it worth it?

[Atlantic Friend]

You know, that's a bit unfair with Spain. I really think the War on terror will be won by police and counter-intel guys, mainly operating at home against the sleeper cells and in tight cooperation with their allied counterparts to prevent further infiltration.

Quite frankly, the pullback of 1,300 Spanish soldiers from Iraq did not change much in the counter-terrorist big picture. The pull back of 130 experienced anti-terrorist cops would be much more harmful to the allied cause.

[Starve The Beast]

As I recall, the three month truce was offered in exchange for pulling European troops out of all Muslim countries, which the Europeans didn't do. (You're correct about the capitulation of Spain to terrorists, but they didn't pull out of Afghanistan, only Iraq.) I think that stuff about the three month truce was a non-starter.

This letter looks to me like just another wank by some tiny, powerless group of fanatics, not by an agent of bin Laden.

[Starve The Beast]

... the pullback of 1,300 Spanish soldiers from Iraq did not change much...

You are certainly correct, but that isn't where the damage was done. When Spain capitulated to terrorist demands, they sent exactly the wrong message, not just to al Qaeda, but to terrorist groups everywhere. 1,300 soldiers won't amount to a hill of beans in Iraq, you're right, but how many more innocent people will be blown to bits by terrorist groups who have been encouraged by al Quaeda's success in Spain?

[Shermy]

"You know, that's a bit unfair with Spain. I really think the War on terror will be won by police and counter-intel guys, mainly operating at home against the sleeper cells and in tight cooperation with their allied counterparts to prevent further infiltration."

That's true. Part of the problem understanding the WOT is the incessant description of our Iraqi involvement as part of it, when really it started long before and has a different history.

What's unfair is Spain's lefties interpreting the Islamist's actions to fit their own prejudices about the US and Iraq. For example, each of these communiques specify Spain's involvement with Afghanistan too. The Islamists make no distinction, but the Spaniards ignore it. A blindness and unwillingness to listen, kind of like what "Anonymous" calls "Imperial Hubris"

[7.62 x 51mm]

This is not a war on terrorism; it's a war that Islam has declared upon the West/ America. Terrorism is merely their tool to accomplish the Islamic Caliphate.

'Our Enemy Is Not Terrorism'...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1163815/posts