Purported al Qaeda message: Unite with Taliban
Pastor Dale Morgan
Purported al Qaeda message: Unite with Taliban*
POSTED: 0355 GMT (1155 HKT), February 12, 2007
Story Highlights
• Al-Zawahiri calls for Muslims to unite under Taliban leader Mullah Omar
• Calls governments of Iraq, Afghanistan "traitors," condemns Muslim
"charlatans"
• CNN cannot confirm authenticity of videotape
• Al-Zawahiri calls on Palestinians to reject any kind of secular government
(CNN) -- In a message released Monday, al Qaeda's No. 2 leader called on
Muslims to unite under Taliban leader Mullah Omar, stop trying to form
secular governments and instead follow strict Islamic Sharia law.
The message from Ayman al-Zawahiri, the top aide to al Qaeda chief Osama
bin Laden, appeared on an Islamist Web site.
The video contained a still picture of al-Zawahiri, the audio remarks
and English subtitles.
A text translation also accompanied the tape and was provided to CNN by
lauramansfield.com, a Web site that analyzes terrorism.
CNN could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the videotape.
Al-Zawahiri pledged allegiance to Mullah Omar and called on all his
followers to reject animosity and differences and come together under
Mullah Omar's banner.
Mullah Omar is the elusive, shadowy Taliban leader who slipped away in
the early days of the war in Afghanistan. The Taliban held Afghanistan
with an ultra-conservative government and sheltered al Qaeda.
Calling the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan, allied with the United
States, "traitors," al-Zawahiri warned that the United States "is about
to depart and abandon them, just as it abandoned their like in Vietnam."
But al-Zawahiri did not reserve his venom only for the "Crusaders" and
"Zionists." He also targeted the "charlatans" of Islam, saying their
"long beards, huge turbans, majestic titles, purported lineages and
popular myths are no substitute for the truth."
He called on Palestinians to drop their secular government and instead
govern themselves by Sharia (Islamic) law.
"A sovereign government will only be achieved if you liberate Palestine
from the Jews and their agents, and only if you set up a government
which rules by Sharia," he said. "Otherwise, the soap opera of embargoes
and pursuits and killings and denunciations will just go on and on."
Al-Zawahiri's latest message - like his last released January 22 -- had
harsh words for President Bush and the United States.
Al-Zawahiri said Bush was "addicted to drinking, lying and gambling" and
that "the American people are the ones who chose him twice, out of greed
for the Muslims' treasures and in animosity to them."
"That's why the intelligent person does not absolve them, the British
people and all peoples of the Crusader Alliance from responsibility, for
they are the ones who elected Bush, Blair and their allies and supported
them in their aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq," he said.
Al-Zawahiri also took aim at Democrats, directing a part of his message
to them.
"The people chose you due to your opposition to Bush's policy in Iraq,
but it appears that you are marching with him to the same abyss, and it
appears that you will take part with him in the defeat and certain
failure, with God's permission," he said.
"And the American people shall discover that you are all one side of the
same coin of tyranny, criminality and failure."