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Posted on 11/09/2001 4:08:54 PM PST by CommiesOut

UPDATE 1 - Al Qaeda vows jihad until U.S. quits Muslim states

 (Adds quotes throughout, background) 
    By Isa Mubarak 
    DUBAI, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Ayman Zawahri, a top lieutenant in 
Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, said in a statement aired on 
Saturday that jihad, or holy war, would not stop until all 
"American Jewish" troops had been expelled from Muslim states. 
    Speaking in defiant language with an AK 47 rifle by his 
side, Zawahri said in the televised statement that the United 
States wanted to break Qaeda and the ruling Afghan Taliban but 
its raids on Afghanistan were only killing innocent Afghans. 
    "The Palestinian cause, or more precisely the 
Israeli-American crime in Palestine, will remain the axis of the 
main struggle in the heart of the Islamic world and the main 
motive for Muslims' jihad against America," Zawahri said. 
    "We assure it (America) that we will continue our Jihad, God 
willing, until we free our holy places from American Jewish 
aggression and until the last American Jewish soldier leaves 
Palestine, the Arabian Peninsula and the rest of the Muslim 
countries," he said in the videotaped address broadcast by the 
Arabic-language al-Jazeera satellite channel. 
    Zawahri, an Egyptian who also heads the militant Islamic 
group Jihad which is vehemently opposed to Israel, said he was 
responding to a recent speech by U.S. President George W. Bush. 
    "Bush, while lying to his people defending this campaign, 
claims that he demolished the Qaeda organisation and divided the 
ranks of the Taliban, but the whole world ridicules these lies." 
    U.S. officials have said the Taliban are no long functioning 
as a proper government, but also said Qaeda remained a threat. 
    Zawahri said the U.S. attacks had instead killed 1,600 
civilians and made millions homeless. 
    The United States has said it is only targeting military 
sites and is seeking to minimise civilian casualties. The 
Taliban say there has been a heavy civilian death toll. 
     
    THE WORLD WILL LEARN THE TRUTH 
    "The whole world will know after the coming strikes, who is 
lying and who is telling the truth," he said. It was not 
immediately clear whether he was referring to U.S. strikes or 
planned attacks by Qaeda, which has warned of action against the 
West. 
    The United States launched military strikes against 
Afghanistan more than one month ago to try to flush out bin 
Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 suicide attacks 
with hijacked planes on U.S. cities. 
    Zawahri was speaking after bin Laden recently made a fiery 
appeal to fellow Muslims to join the holy war against the United 
States. 
    Bin Laden has pledged to drive out U.S. troops stationed in 
the country of his birth, Saudi Arabia, home to two of Islam's 
holiest shrines. Bin Laden, who was stripped of his Saudi 
citizenship, has also denounced the creation of Israel. 
    Zawahri's appeal again appeared aimed at popular anger among 
many Arabs and Muslims towards a perceived U.S. bias towards 
Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians. 
    "The official American ignorance in the speech of Bush and 
the statement of the foreign ministry about the Palestinian 
tragedy cannot wipe from the minds of Muslims the images of 
hundreds of thousands of Palestinian wounded, killed and 
crippled, and millions of fleeing people," Zawahri said. 
  ((Gulf newsroom, +971 4 391 8301, fax +971 4 391 8335, 
dubai.newsroom@reuters.com)) 
 
09 NOV 2001 23:51:55

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