Osama Bin Laden Tape Threatens U.S. States Not to Vote for Bush

MEMRI ^ | November 1, 2004 | Yigal Carmon

[twntaipan]

The tape of Osama bin Laden that was aired on Al-Jazeera(1) on Friday, October 29th included a specific threat to "each U.S. state," designed to influence the outcome of the upcoming election against George W. Bush. The U.S. media in general mistranslated the words "ay wilaya" (which means "each U.S. state")(2) to mean a "country" or "nation" other than the U.S., while in fact the threat was directed specifically at each individual U.S. state. This suggests some knowledge by bin Laden of the U.S. electoral college system. In a section of his speech in which he harshly criticized George W. Bush, bin Laden stated: "Any U.S. state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security."

The Islamist website Al-Qal'a explained what this sentence meant: "This message was a warning to every U.S. state separately. When he [Osama Bin Laden] said, 'Every state will be determining its own security, and will be responsible for its choice,' it means that any U.S. state that will choose to vote for the white thug Bush as president has chosen to fight us, and we will consider it our enemy, and any state that will vote against Bush has chosen to make peace with us, and we will not characterize it as an enemy. By this characterization, Sheikh Osama wants to drive a wedge in the American body, to weaken it, and he wants to divide the American people itself between enemies of Islam and the Muslims, and those who fight for us, so that he doesn't treat all American people as if they're the same. This letter will have great implications inside the American society, part of which are connected to the American elections, and part of which are connected to what will come after the elections."(3)

Another interesting aspect of the speech is the fact that while bin Laden made his specific threat to each U.S. state, he also offered an election deal to the American voters, attempting to influence the election by these means rather than influencing it through terrorist attacks.(4) This peace offer is a theme that follows up on his April speech directed to Europe, in which he offered a truce.(5) The Islamist website Al-Islah explains: "Some people ask 'what's new in this tape?' [The answer is that] this tape is the second of its kind, after the previous tape of the Sheikh [Osama bin Laden], in which he offered a truce to the Europeans a few months ago, and it is a completion of this move, and it brings together the complementary elements of politics and religion, political savvy and force, the sword and justice. The Sheikh reminds the West in this tape of the great Islamic civilization and pure Islamic religion, and of Islamic justice..."(6)

Another conspicuous aspect of the tape is the absence of common Islamist themes that are relevant to the month of Ramadan, which for fundamentalists like bin Laden is the month of Jihad and martyrdom. Noticeably absent from the Al-Jazeera tape was his usual appearance with a weapon, and more importantly the absence of references to Jihad, martyrdom, the Koran, the Hadith (Islamic tradition), Crusaders, Jews, and the legacy of the Prophet Muhammad on the duty to wage Jihad against the infidels. For the followers of the Al-Qa'ida ideology, this speech sends a regressive and defeatist message of surrender, as seen in the move from solely using Jihad warfare to a mixed strategy of threats combined with truce offers and election deals.

The following are the relevant excerpts from the speech; for the full excerpts visit the MEMRI TV Project at www.memritv.org:(7)

"Oh the American people, I address these words to you regarding the optimal manner of avoiding another Manhattan, and regarding the war, its causes, and its consequences. But before this, I say to you: Security is one of the important pillars of human life, and free men do not take their security lightly, contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom. Let him explain why we did not attack Sweden, for example. Clearly, those who hate freedom have no pride, unlike the 19 [suicide hijackers of 9/11], may Allah have mercy on them. We have been fighting you because we are free men who do not remain silent in the face of injustice. We want to restore our [Islamic] nation's freedom. Just as you violate our security, we violate yours.

"But I am amazed at you. Although we have entered the fourth year after the events of 9/11, Bush is still practicing distortion and deception against you and he is still concealing the true cause from you. Consequently, the motives for its reoccurrence still exist...

"We had no difficulty dealing with Bush and his administration, because it resembles the regimes in our [Arab] countries, half of which are ruled by the military, and the other half are ruled by the sons of kings and presidents with whom we have had a lot of experience. Among both types, there are many who are known for their conceit, arrogance, greed, and for taking money dishonestly.

"This resemblance began with the visit of Bush Sr. to the region. While some of our people were dazzled by the U.S. and hoped that these visits would influence our countries, it was he who was influenced by these monarchic and military regimes. He envied them for remaining in their positions for decades, while embezzling the nation's public funds with no supervision whatsoever. He bequeathed tyranny and the suppression of liberties to his son and they called it the Patriot Act, under the pretext of the war on terrorism.

"Bush Sr. liked the idea of appointing [his] sons as state governors. Similarly, he did not neglect to import into Florida the expertise in falsifying [elections] from the leaders of this region in order to benefit from it in difficult moments.

"We agreed with the general commander Muhammad Atta, may Allah have mercy on him, that all operations should be carried out within 20 minutes, before Bush and his administration would become aware. We never imagined that the Commander in Chief of the American armed forces would abandon 50,000 of his citizens in the twin towers to face this great horror alone when they needed him most. It seemed to him that a girl's story about her goat and its butting was more important than dealing with planes and their 'butting' into skyscrapers. This allowed us three times the amount of time needed for the operations, Allah be praised.

"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or Al-Qa'ida. Your security is in your own hands, and any U.S. state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security."

* Yigal Carmon is the President of MEMRI.

Endnotes: (1) Al-Jazeera (Qatar), October 27, 2004. (2) "Wilaya" refers specifically to a U.S. state; it would never refer to an independent country. The term for such a country is "Dawla." (3) https://www.qal3ati.com/vb/showthread.php?t=115812 (4) To illustrate this principle, he uses Sweden as a model of a country that was never attacked by Al-Qa'ida. (5) See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 695, April 15, 2004, "Osama Bin Laden Speech Offers Peace Treaty with Europe, Says Al-Qa'ida 'Will Persist in Fighting' the U.S." http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP69504 (6) www.islahi.net/vboard/showthread.php?t=116432 (7) To view the full tape aired on Al-Jazeera or read the transcript, visit http://www.memritv.org/Search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=312 .

[Just Lori]

That was Moore's focus of that heinous piece of propaganda. The only difference was that Tokyo Rose and Lord Haw-Haw were presumably working for the other side. Moore is presumably American, but his propaganda film follows an enemy's propadanda piece point by point.

The enemy within.

And Kerry too! Have you seen "Stolen Honor"? Another piece the MSM wants to keep America from seeing..... truth hurts.... well it hurts SOME, anyway.

[OXENinFLA]

The tape of Osama bin Laden that was aired on Al-Jazeera(1) on Friday, October 29th included a specific threat to "each U.S. state," designed to influence the outcome of the upcoming election against George W. Bush. The U.S. media in general mistranslated the words "ay wilaya" (which means "each U.S. state") (2) to mean a "country" or "nation" other than the U.S., while in fact the threat was directed specifically at each individual U.S. state. This suggests some knowledge by bin Laden of the U.S. electoral college system. In a section of his speech in which he harshly criticized George W. Bush, bin Laden stated: "Any U.S. state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security."

The Islamist website Al-Qal'a explained what this sentence meant: "This message was a warning to every U.S. state separately. When he [Osama Bin Laden] said, 'Every state will be determining its own security, and will be responsible for its choice,' it means that any U.S. state that will choose to vote for the white thug Bush as president has chosen to fight us, and we will consider it our enemy, and any state that will vote against Bush has chosen to make peace with us, and we will not characterize it as an enemy. By this characterization, Sheikh Osama wants to drive a wedge in the American body, to weaken it, and he wants to divide the American people itself between enemies of Islam and the Muslims, and those who fight for us, so that he doesn't treat all American people as if they're the same. This letter will have great implications inside the American society, part of which are connected to the American elections, and part of which are connected to what will come after the elections."(3)

---

I don't think the Dems or Camp Kerry would, as Dan Rather would say, "touch that line with a 12-foot pole, which as you know is the pole I reserve for those things that I certainly wouldn’t touch with an 11-foot pole."

[Milligan]

Its a win-win situation for Osama.
If Bush gets elected, recruitment will be high for Osama because they will have to fight for their lives.
If Kerry gets elected, recruitment will be high for Osama because he successfully scared voters to pick a Quisling candidate who will back off from terrorism.

[KMC1]

Yes it was reported...

[BigSkyFreeper]

The video only serves to show just how much in disarray Al Qaeda is. The video will only serve to harden the base of Bush, because OBL is still alive.

[twntaipan]

Agreed--but I think it will bring a few "leaners" to W too.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Agreed--but I think it will bring a few "leaners" to W too.

Of course there is chance that may happen.

[Rutles4Ever]

Soooo... al Qaeda's not going to attack New York, Washington D.C, or California -- but "look out Wyoming"?

This is utter bull --

I would buy the notion that Ohio and Florida are being implied here (and maybe Michigan).... but not all the states.

[JesseHousman]

That gaggle of misfits who support sKerry will fall into line, just as the Spanish, scared that the evil muslims will blow them up if sKerry isn't elected.

Let's pray that this hollow, leftist gigolo isn't elected, because that would mean that through intimidation the majority of American voters are appeasers of the evil islamists.

[Stateline]

Osama the dog log.....

[twntaipan]

Perish the thought of a Kerry presidency. Clinton was a draft dodger-- but Kerry by all accounts gave aid and comfort to the enemy.

[Moleman]

Somehwere at the end of this message I read "I'm John Kerry, and I support this mesage...:-)

[Aquinasfan]

This has NOT been reported by the MSM, but certainly needs to be.

Heard it this morning. Maybe it was Fox. Doubt this will be picked up by the MSM.

Anyway, OBL needs a new schtick. He's putting us all to sleep.

[American Infidel]

I watched FahrenHYPE 9-11 last night

I did as well. It was much better than I thought it would be. I would love to see it side by side with moore's propaganda piece on the shelves of videostores so that people who rent moore's movie can also rent FahrenHype911 to see moore's propaganda piece ripped apart.

[Moleman]

Just checked a couple of MSM sites (Yahoo, MSN, Detroit News) NOTHING! on this story at all. WTF, biased media, spit.

[Freepdonia]

Its a win-win situation for Osama. If Bush gets elected, recruitment will be high for Osama because they will have to fight for their lives. If Kerry gets elected, recruitment will be high for Osama because he successfully scared voters to pick a Quisling candidate who will back off from terrorism.

Can we agree that it will be more of a win if sKerry is elected for Osama? Yeah, he'll get many recruits if Bush is elected, but their life expectancy will be shortened greatly. :-)

[Freepdonia]

No matter what happens tomorrow our country has to come together against Radical Islamic Fundamentalists.

Amen.

[af_vet_1981]

The U.S. media in general mistranslated the words "ay wilaya" (which means "each U.S. state")(2) to mean a "country" or "nation" other than the U.S., while in fact the threat was directed specifically at each individual U.S. state.

That would have to be a deliberate mistranslation. Anyone knows wilaiyah means "state" in the context of America, hence alwilaiyat almutahadah, The United States.

[af_vet_1981]

Pretty brilliant actually. UBL is trying to divide America. He's taking advantage of the polarity of this election.

Brilliant and evil. If the Democrats win, BinLaden wins because they won't fight anyone except Republicans.

No matter what happens tomorrow our country has to come together against Radical Islamic Fundamentalists.

The Dems would stage some PR ops, with MSM assistance, but their real war will be against the Republicans. They already have their cance to come together and almost 85% of them are choosing BinLaden.