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| Iraq |
| Al-Qaeda urges Iraq insurgents to unite |
| 2006-12-31 |
| AL-QAEDA'S deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri has called on insurgents in Iraq to unite, and urged Palestinian Islamists not to co-operate with the Palestinian Authority, according to an audiotape posted on the internet today. "O mujahideen brothers in Palestine ... the traitor secularists cannot be your brothers, do not give them legitimacy or take part in their assemblies which are opposed to Islamic principles," said the speaker on the tape, who sounded like Zawahri. "How can (Palestinian President) Mahmoud Abbas ... or (his aide) Mohammed Dahlan be our brothers when they have grown fat on the Jews' bribes and the Americans' gifts," the speaker said. "I send congratulations to the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq, the mujahid sheikh Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, and all the brave jihadi groups ... invite them to unite," the speaker said. The authenticity of the tape could not be verified, but it was posted on websites used by al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups in Iraq. It was issued by al-Qaeda's media arm al-Sahab. Baghdadi heads the so-called Islamic state announced by al-Qaeda and several other Sunni militant groups in Iraq in October. A number of insurgent groups have not joined it. Zawahri has often criticised the Islamist Hamas movement for taking part in elections, saying it would eventually lead to the recognition of Israel. Palestinian officials rejected his latest comments as interference. "Zawahri's comments are a gift to the Zionist occupation ... We call on Zawahri not to intervene in Palestinian internal affairs," said Abu Qusai, spokesman of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Abbas's Fatah movement. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said: "We think differently from the way Zawahri does. We adopt the moderate Islamic attitude. We respect the official regime and we believe in dialogue as the only way to settle differences." The speaker also hailed any Muslim woman insisting on wearing the Islamic veil despite pressures in some Western countries as a "soldier in the battle of Islam against the Zionist-Crusader attack". In a video issued earlier this in December, Zawahri vowed that al-Qaeda would continue to target the US and other Western countries as long as Muslims were under attack. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #3 "O mujahideen brothers in Palestine ... the traitor secularists cannot be your brothers, do not give them legitimacy or take part in their assemblies which are opposed to Islamic principles" In other words - yadda, yadda, yadda.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-12-31 23:51 |
| #2 Missing Saddam already, are ya Zawahri? |
| Posted by: Free Radical 2006-12-31 23:17 |
| #1 "Zawahri's comments are a gift to the Zionist occupation ... Stopped clock moment. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2006-12-31 10:18 |