You have commented 338 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Iraq
Mullah Krekar just loves Binny...
2003-02-11
Source: Spiegel Magazine, Translated by Jihad Unspun
Mullah Krekar, the Kurdish Islamist leader of Ansar al Islam recently talked with Germany-based Spiegel magazine about the Iraq conflict and the accusations that have been brought against him by the United States government. Here is the interview uncut and uncensored.

Spiegel: Mullah Krekar, if one believes Secretary of State Colin Powell than you are the leader of an Islamic organization who supports Saddam Hussein and provides shelter to Al-Qaida terorrists. When did you meet with Osama bin Laden for the last time?
Krekar: Osama bin Laden is a good man. He is the jewel in the crown of Islam. He has dedicated his whole life and financial resources to the teachings of Allah. But I have never met him nor am I in contact with him. And the Ansar-e Islam are not what the Americans believe it to be, a connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. During my arrest and detention in Holland I spoke to the FBI and made that point perfectly clear.
"I love Binny. I yearn to be in his arms. But, alas, that's not possible at the moment, since he's probably dead. Ansar's not what the Merkins think it is, a connection between Binny and Sammy; it's a stench and a pestilence in its own right. When I was in jug in Holland, I lied my arse off and obfuscated everything I possibly could."

Spiegel: But is it not true that close to 120 fighters found refuge in villages under your control, close to the Iranian border, and fought against rival Kurdish groups under your control?
Krekar: You will not find one Al-Qaida fighter in our ranks. It is all propaganda. Just like the photograph used by Secretary of State Colin Powell as alleged evidence of a chemical weapons factory in Northern Iraq. The fact is that this photograph does not show the village Churmal and secondly, this village is not under the control of Ansar-e Islam. No factory can be found in the whole region - not for the production of food, clothing or weapons. The existence of this factory is even being questioned by the Democrats in the United States Senate. They're asking why the factory was not destroyed if its whereabouts were known.
"You won't find a single al-Qaeda fighter in our ranks because once they got there they became Ansar al-Islam fighters. The fact that Abu Zubaydah used to be our controller is beside the point. Evidence means nothing, y'know? Not unless we admint to it. Now, allow me to change the subject..."

Spiegel: Documents found by New York Times reporters in an Al-Qaida guesthouse in Kabul hint to the fact that your fighters had been trained in Al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan.
Krekar: Not true. So far nobody has shown me such documents. I am 100% sure that since I took on the leadership of Ansar-e Islam, none of our people went to train in Afghanistan. The Kurdish revolution is in no need of help from the Arabs.
"We've got our own little Afghanistan set up in the hills on the Iraqi-Iranian border. So we don't need Afghanistan anymore, regardless of what the evidence says. Besides which, I haven't seen it with my own eyes, so it doesn't really exist, does it?"

Spiegel: And there was no help required before?
Krekar: No and no again. We are a political organization, which, like 18 other Kurdish organizations fights for the liberation of Kurdistan. We represent the interests of the Muslim population in Iraq.
"We're going to liberate Kurdistan from everybody but us, and then we're going to have a caliphate. We're gonna have a Grand Vizier, by golly. We'll be lopping people's heads off, and hands off, and feet off, and we'll be stonin' adultresses — we're gonna have a high old time. But first we've gotta kill everybody who disagrees with us."

Spiegel: You do use violence to further the goal of Islam - just like Osama bin Laden.
Krekar: We defend ourselves when attacked. If somebody points a Kalashnikov at me then I will shoot. But we have never killed civilians. I might show resemblance to Osama Bin Laden, but I am not him.
"Actually, even if somebody doesn't point a Kalashnikov at me, I will shoot. And 'civilian' is such a theoretical concept, don't you think — soldier?"

Spiegel: Western Intelligence sources state that they have proof of your involvement in training suicide assassins.
Krekar: This is an important weapon when speaking in military terms, one stands against one hundred. But we do not need to send fighters to Afghanistan to acquire this skill.
"Yeah. So what?"

Spiegel: Do you believe there is a connection between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein?
Krekar: This is hardly possible. Saddam's regime and party are enemies of Islam, just like the Kurds being the enemy of Saddam.
"Everybody's the enemy of Islam except me, and sometimes I'm not too sure about myself."
Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#5  Krekar said Saddam buried chem weapons in the oil fields.
Posted by: Anonymous   2003-02-11 19:33:24  

#4  Fred --- I do not understand this Norway thing. They bombed in Afghanistan recently, yet they allow Krekar back in country. Cracker! Enlighten me or issue a Fatwa. This does not compute.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-02-11 17:22:32  

#3  Mullah Krekar's also safe back in Norway. I doubt if we'd cause him to have an "unfortunate accident" there. I think if Norway dumped him - he's up on drug charges in Jordan, f'rinstance - the Norwegian lefties would collectively calve on the spot.
Posted by: Fred   2003-02-11 13:11:40  

#2  When we go into Iraq, sh-t will hit the fan. There will be attacks at soft spots in the US, Europe, South Asia, etc. All these blow hards will then get popped in the fracas. There is no use calling attention to them now with hits.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-02-11 13:00:52  

#1  Why are all of these soi-disant "holy men" still walking around spreading their venom? Didn't GWB give the official okey-dokey for some CIA hits?

This guy's a prime target, IMHO.
Posted by: mojo   2003-02-11 11:21:29  

00:00