Author: Osama bin Laden
Publication: The Guardian
Date: January 6, 2004
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1116855,00.html
My message is to urge jihad to repulse
the grand plots hatched against our nation, such as the occupation of Baghdad,
under the guise of the search for weapons of mass destruction, and the
fierce attempt to destroy the jihad in beloved Palestine by employing the
trick of the road map and the Geneva peace initiative.
The Americans' intentions have also
become clear in statements about the need to change the beliefs and morals
of Muslims to become more tolerant, as they put it.
In truth, this is a religious-economic
war. The occupation of Iraq is a link in the Zionist-crusader chain of
evil. Then comes the full occupation of the rest of the Gulf states to
set the stage for controlling and dominating the whole world.
For the big powers believe that
the Gulf and the Gulf states are the key to global control due to the presence
of the largest oil reserves there. The situation is serious and the misfortune
momentous.
The west's occupation of our countries
is old, but takes new forms. The struggle between us and them began centuries
ago, and will continue. There can be no dialogue with occupiers except
through arms. Throughout the past century, Islamic countries have not been
liberated from occupation except through jihad. But, under the pretext
of fighting terrorism, the west today is doing its utmost to besmirch this
jihad, supported by hypocrites.
Jihad is the path, so seek it. If
we seek to deter them with any means other than Islam, we would be like
our forefathers, the Ghassanids [Arab tribes living under the Byzantine
empire]. Their leaders' concern was to be appointed kings and officers
for the Romans in order to safeguard the interests of the Romans by killing
their brothers, the peninsula's Arabs.
Such is the case of the new Ghassanids,
the Arab rulers. Muslims, if you do not punish them for their sins in Jerusalem
and Iraq, they will defeat you. They will also rob you of the land of the
two holy places [Saudi Arabia].
Today they have robbed you of Baghdad
and tomorrow they will rob you of Riyadh unless God deems otherwise. What
is the means to stop this tremendous onslaught? Some reformers maintain
that all popular and government forces should unite to ward off this crusader-Zionist
onslaught.
But the question strongly raised
is: are the governments in the Islamic world capable of pursuing their
duty to defend the faith and nation and renouncing all allegiance to the
United States?
The calls by some reformers are
strange. They say that the path to defending the homeland and people passes
though the doors of those western rulers. I tell those reformers: if you
have an excuse for not pursuing jihad, it does not give you the right to
depend on the unjust. God does not need your flattery of dictators.
The Gulf states proved their total
inability to resist the Iraqi forces [in 1990-1]. They sought help from
the crusaders, led by the United States. These states then came to America's
help and backed it in its attack against an Arab state [Iraq in 2003].
These regimes submitted to US pressure
and opened their air, land and sea bases to contribute towards the US campaign,
despite the immense repercussions of this move. They feared that the door
would be open for bringing down dictatorial regimes by armed forces from
abroad, especially after they had seen the arrest of their former comrade
in treason and agentry to the United States [Saddam Hussein] when it ordered
him to ignite the first Gulf war against Iran, which rebelled against it.
The war plunged the area into a
maze from which they have not emerged to this day. They are aware that
their turn will come. They do not have the will to make the decision to
confront the aggression. In short, the ruler who believes in the above-
mentioned deeds cannot defend the country. Those who support the infidels
over Muslims, and leave the blood, honour and property of their brothers
to their enemy in order to remain safe, can be expected to take the same
course against one another in the Gulf states.
Indeed, this principle is liable
to be embraced within the state itself. And in fact the rulers have started
to sell out the sons of the land by pursuing, imprisoning and killing them.
This campaign has been part of a drive to carry out US orders.
Honest people concerned about this
situation should meet away from the shadow of these oppressive regimes
and declare a general mobilisation to prepare for repulsing the raids of
the Romans, which started in Iraq and no one knows where they will end.
· This is an edited extract
of a recording believed to have been made by the al-Qaida leader, transmitted
by al-Jazeera and translated by the BBC Monitoring Service
