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| Iraq |
| Zarqawi blasts Iraqi Sunnis |
| 2006-01-10 |
| An Internet statement in the name of the al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist group rebuked Sunnis for participating in last month's Iraqi elections, saying they had "thrown a rope" to save U.S. policy in the country. The purported statement by group leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi also said his fighters decided not to disrupt the elections with attacks "to avoid killing some of the Sunnis who were confused" about whether to vote. He also called President Bush a liar, saying: "All that you hear from the liar of the White House is that the situation in Iraq is getting better." The statement was posted Monday in text and audio tape on an Islamic website known for publishing extremist material. The authenticity could not be confirmed, but the tape sounded like the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi. "This is a call to the Sunnis, in general and the followers of the Islamic Party in particular," al-Zarqawi said at the outset, referring to the Islamic Party in Iraq, the biggest political home for Iraq's Sunni Arabs. "Where are you being led to? Don't you fear God?" Referring to last month's elections, the terrorist leader said: "At the time, it was very clear to everyone that the crusader enemy was losing, and then you threw a rope to save him." In a 10-page statement, al-Zarqawi accused the Islamic Party and Sunnis of collaborating with the United States and said those who voted in the parliamentary elections were "hypocrites." "God, curse the leaders of the Islamic Party and those who collaborated with them," the statement said. In Baghdad, three senior members of the Islamic party declined to respond to al-Zarqawi's statement. Al-Zarqawi also echoed last week's purported statement by al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri by saying the recent U.S. announcement that it will withdraw some troops from Iraq this year was a victory for Islamic forces. Al-Zawahri made the same claim in a videotape broadcast Friday on pan-Arab television. "America today is breathing its last breaths and shaking under the blows of the holy warriors," al-Zarqawi said in Monday's tape. He said he was praying to God to destroy Americans. "God, torture them yourself or in our hands ... God, shower them with diseases and misfortunes," the speaker said. Al-Zarqawi said the insurgents could have disrupted the elections, "but we did not do it to avoid killing some of the Sunnis who were confused" over whether to take part in the election. al-Qaeda in Iraq has been criticized recently by other insurgent leaders for its policy of indiscriminate attacks on civilians. While other insurgent groups have tend to avoid large civilian loss of life, an al-Qaeda suicide bomber killed 63 people in the Shiite holy city of Karbala last Thursday. Al-Zarqawi repeated his group's claim that it fired a barrage of rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel on Dec. 27, provoking Israeli airstrikes on a Palestinian base in central Lebanon. He said the attacks were "the beginning of the blessed work of striking deep into the Zionist enemy, according to instructions of Osama bin Laden," the leader of the global al-Qaeda network. Israel blamed the rocket attack on the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a pro-Syrian group. Israeli military intelligence said the rockets were Russian-made Katyushas that had been sold to Syria several years ago. The PFLP-GC denied firing the rockets. Al-Zarqawi claimed the insurgents, or "holy warriors," had killed more than 500 Iraqi soldiers in the past two weeks. Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in April 2003, the insurgents had carried out about 800 suicide attacks and, with other attacks, killed "at least 40,000 American soldiers," he said. The United States says it has lost about 2,200 troops in Iraq since invading the country in March 2003. Al-Zarqawi condemned the Arab League, which hosted a meeting in Cairo last month that tried to reconcile Iraq's ethnic and religious factions. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria and other states attended. "The Arab League and its members were impotent," he said. "Those countries that met in Cairo are the same as those that took part in slaughter of Iraq (during the U.S.-led invasion) and which cooperated with the Americans by opening their airspace, land and sea." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 " All that you hear from the liar of the White House is that the situation in Iraq is getting better." Zark is totally shameless. He even steals Teddy Kennedy's best lines. |
| Posted by: D Harris 2006-01-10 22:37 |
| #5 My guess is Zark's getting a little frustrated over Sunnis turning his boyz in. It's a race against time. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-01-10 17:49 |
| #4 "All that you hear from the liar of the White House is that the situation in Iraq is getting better." And then he says "At the time, it was very clear to everyone that the crusader enemy was losing, and then you threw a rope to save him." Would'nt that indicate, that things are getting better for us, thus Bush is'nt lying, he is. After all, were'nt we just saved. Would'nt the people throw us a rope, only because they don't agree with him? Oh yeah, I like it Xbalanke |
| Posted by: plainslow 2006-01-10 12:44 |
| #3 Zarqawi blasts Iraqi Sunnis ... literally. |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2006-01-10 11:23 |
| #2 He said he was praying to God to destroy Americans Wow! I didn't know you could still pray to God from Hell. photographic proof of Zarqawi working with Iran |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-01-10 10:49 |
| #1 40,000 eh, that's optimism. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-01-10 08:58 |