Posted on 07/08/2004 8:44:51 AM PDT by areafiftyone
DUBAI, July 8 (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-linked group refused a ransom offer before beheading U.S. hostage Nicholas Berg in Iraq two months ago, an audiotape purporting to come from their leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said.
"Some intermediaries tried to save this parasite (Berg) by offering whatever sums of money we wanted, and despite our great need for money for jihad (holy war) we chose to avenge our Islamic nation," said the voice on the tape, found on the Internet on Thursday.
The voice on the tape posted on Islamist Web sites resembled that on a tape attributed to Zarqawi last month in which he vowed to assassinate Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Zarqawi, who has a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head, also slammed Islamic preachers who condemned Berg's beheading, which his group followed with the decapitation of a South Korean in June. An al Qaeda-linked group also beheaded an American in Saudi Arabia.
In the hour-long tape Zarqawi said he was avenging wrongs done to Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestinian areas and Indonesia. He gave no more details on the alleged ransom offer.
Jordanian-born Zarqawi has raised his profile with a series of suicide bombs and attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.
Iraqi gunmen calling themselves the Salvation Movement said this week they would hunt him down unless he left Iraq.
Kinda make me wonder just how much Michael Moore offered them.
Well this certainly backs up Berg's father's assertion of how Berg surely had a positive effect on his murders and it is G. W. Bush who is the real bad guy.
Okay flame me but I'm still thinking Michael Moore sent Nicholas Berg to Iraq to take photos for his next so-called documentary.
Probably Michael Moron made the offer to pay a ransom.
I hope we find out who it was -- why wouldn't them come forward to admit it?
And we should believe anything Zarqawi says because....?
(Directed at Reuters, not the poster.)
I wouldn't flame you for that. I don't trust Michael Moore and I wouldn't put it past him. He is pure evil!
I believe everything this bunch of Pig Poop says.
For what?
Exclusive rights on the video so he could use it in his next movie?
Or george soros.
That is an interesting hypothesis.
Maybe we should look into this further??
Why is this news ?
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