TRANSLATION OF COMPLETE BIN LADEN SPEECH

[Zlatko Waterman]

Full transcript of bin Laden's speech


Monday 01 November 2004, 16:01 Makka Time, 13:01 GMT


Bin Ladin directed his message at the American people




Following is the full English transcript of Usama bin Ladin's speech in a videotape sent to Aljazeera. In the interests of authenticity, the content of the transcript, which appeared as subtitles at the foot of the screen, has been left unedited.


Praise be to Allah who created the creation for his worship and commanded them to be just and permitted the wronged one to retaliate against the oppressor in kind. To proceed:

Peace be upon he who follows the guidance: People of America this talk of mine is for you and concerns the ideal way to prevent another Manhattan, and deals with the war and its causes and results.

Before I begin, I say to you that security is an indispensable pillar of human life and that free men do not forfeit their security, contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom.

If so, then let him explain to us why we don't strike for example - Sweden? And we know that freedom-haters don't possess defiant spirits like those of the 19 - may Allah have mercy on them.

No, we fight because we are free men who don't sleep under oppression. We want to restore freedom to our nation, just as you lay waste to our nation. So shall we lay waste to yours.

No one except a dumb thief plays with the security of others and then makes himself believe he will be secure. Whereas thinking people, when disaster strikes, make it their priority to look for its causes, in order to prevent it happening again.

But I am amazed at you. Even though we are in the fourth year after the events of September 11th, Bush is still engaged in distortion, deception and hiding from you the real causes. And thus, the reasons are still there for a repeat of what occurred.

So I shall talk to you about the story behind those events and shall tell you truthfully about the moments in which the decision was taken, for you to consider.

I say to you, Allah knows that it had never occurred to us to strike the towers. But after it became unbearable and we witnessed the oppression and tyranny of the American/Israeli coalition against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, it came to my mind.

The events that affected my soul in a direct way started in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and the American Sixth Fleet helped them in that. This bombardment began and many were killed and injured and others were terrorised and displaced.

I couldn't forget those moving scenes, blood and severed limbs, women and children sprawled everywhere. Houses destroyed along with their occupants and high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on our home without mercy.

The situation was like a crocodile meeting a helpless child, powerless except for his screams. Does the crocodile understand a conversation that doesn't include a weapon? And the whole world saw and heard but it didn't respond.

In those difficult moments many hard-to-describe ideas bubbled in my soul, but in the end they produced an intense feeling of rejection of tyranny, and gave birth to a strong resolve to punish the oppressors.

And as I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon, it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America in order that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children.

And that day, it was confirmed to me that oppression and the intentional killing of innocent women and children is a deliberate American policy. Destruction is freedom and democracy, while resistance is terrorism and intolerance.

This means the oppressing and embargoing to death of millions as Bush Sr did in Iraq in the greatest mass slaughter of children mankind has ever known, and it means the throwing of millions of pounds of bombs and explosives at millions of children - also in Iraq - as Bush Jr did, in order to remove an old agent and replace him with a new puppet to assist in the pilfering of Iraq's oil and other outrages.

So with these images and their like as their background, the events of September 11th came as a reply to those great wrongs, should a man be blamed for defending his sanctuary?

Is defending oneself and punishing the aggressor in kind, objectionable terrorism? If it is such, then it is unavoidable for us.

This is the message which I sought to communicate to you in word and deed, repeatedly, for years before September 11th.

And you can read this, if you wish, in my interview with Scott in Time Magazine in 1996, or with Peter Arnett on CNN in 1997, or my meeting with John Weiner in 1998.

You can observe it practically, if you wish, in Kenya and Tanzania and in Aden. And you can read it in my interview with Abdul Bari Atwan, as well as my interviews with Robert Fisk.

The latter is one of your compatriots and co-religionists and I consider him to be neutral. So are the pretenders of freedom at the White House and the channels controlled by them able to run an interview with him? So that he may relay to the American people what he has understood from us to be the reasons for our fight against you?

If you were to avoid these reasons, you will have taken the correct path that will lead America to the security that it was in before September 11th. This concerned the causes of the war.

As for it's results, they have been, by the grace of Allah, positive and enormous, and have, by all standards, exceeded all expectations. This is due to many factors, chief among them, that we have found it difficult to deal with the Bush administration in light of the resemblance it bears to the regimes in our countries, half of which are ruled by the military and the other half which are ruled by the sons of kings and presidents.

Our experience with them is lengthy, and both types are replete with those who are characterised by pride, arrogance, greed and misappropriation of wealth. This resemblance began after the visits of Bush Sr to the region.

At a time when some of our compatriots were dazzled by America and hoping that these visits would have an effect on our countries, all of a sudden he was affected by those monarchies and military regimes, and became envious of their remaining decades in their positions, to embezzle the public wealth of the nation without supervision or accounting.

So he took dictatorship and suppression of freedoms to his son and they named it the Patriot Act, under the pretence of fighting terrorism. In addition, Bush sanctioned the installing of sons as state governors, and didn't forget to import expertise in election fraud from the region's presidents to Florida to be made use of in moments of difficulty.

All that we have mentioned has made it easy for us to provoke and bait this administration. All that we have to do is to send two mujahidin to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qaida, in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note other than some benefits for their private companies.

This is in addition to our having experience in using guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to fight tyrannical superpowers, as we, alongside the mujahidin, bled Russia for 10 years, until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat.

All Praise is due to Allah.

So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah.

That being said, those who say that al-Qaida has won against the administration in the White House or that the administration has lost in this war have not been precise, because when one scrutinises the results, one cannot say that al-Qaida is the sole factor in achieving those spectacular gains.

Rather, the policy of the White House that demands the opening of war fronts to keep busy their various corporations - whether they be working in the field of arms or oil or reconstruction - has helped al-Qaida to achieve these enormous results.

And so it has appeared to some analysts and diplomats that the White House and us are playing as one team towards the economic goals of the United States, even if the intentions differ.

And it was to these sorts of notions and their like that the British diplomat and others were referring in their lectures at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. [When they pointed out that] for example, al-Qaida spent $500,000 on the event, while America, in the incident and its aftermath, lost - according to the lowest estimate - more than $500 billion.

Meaning that every dollar of al-Qaida defeated a million dollars by the permission of Allah, besides the loss of a huge number of jobs.

As for the size of the economic deficit, it has reached record astronomical numbers estimated to total more than a trillion dollars.

And even more dangerous and bitter for America is that the mujahidin recently forced Bush to resort to emergency funds to continue the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, which is evidence of the success of the bleed-until-bankruptcy plan - with Allah's permission.

It is true that this shows that al-Qaida has gained, but on the other hand, it shows that the Bush administration has also gained, something of which anyone who looks at the size of the contracts acquired by the shady Bush administration-linked mega-corporations, like Halliburton and its kind, will be convinced. And it all shows that the real loser is ... you.

It is the American people and their economy. And for the record, we had agreed with the Commander-General Muhammad Ataa, Allah have mercy on him, that all the operations should be carried out within 20 minutes, before Bush and his administration notice.

It never occurred to us that the commander-in-chief of the American armed forces would abandon 50,000 of his citizens in the twin towers to face those great horrors alone, the time when they most needed him.

But because it seemed to him that occupying himself by talking to the little girl about the goat and its butting was more important than occupying himself with the planes and their butting of the skyscrapers, we were given three times the period required to execute the operations - all praise is due to Allah.

And it's no secret to you that the thinkers and perceptive ones from among the Americans warned Bush before the war and told him: "All that you want for securing America and removing the weapons of mass destruction - assuming they exist - is available to you, and the nations of the world are with you in the inspections, and it is in the interest of America that it not be thrust into an unjustified war with an unknown outcome."

But the darkness of the black gold blurred his vision and insight, and he gave priority to private interests over the public interests of America.

So the war went ahead, the death toll rose, the American economy bled, and Bush became embroiled in the swamps of Iraq that threaten his future. He fits the saying "like the naughty she-goat who used her hoof to dig up a knife from under the earth".

So I say to you, over 15,000 of our people have been killed and tens of thousands injured, while more than a thousand of you have been killed and more than 10,000 injured. And Bush's hands are stained with the blood of all those killed from both sides, all for the sake of oil and keeping their private companies in business.

Be aware that it is the nation who punishes the weak man when he causes the killing of one of its citizens for money, while letting the powerful one get off, when he causes the killing of more than 1000 of its sons, also for money.

And the same goes for your allies in Palestine. They terrorise the women and children, and kill and capture the men as they lie sleeping with their families on the mattresses, that you may recall that for every action, there is a reaction.

Finally, it behoves you to reflect on the last wills and testaments of the thousands who left you on the 11th as they gestured in despair. They are important testaments, which should be studied and researched.

Among the most important of what I read in them was some prose in their gestures before the collapse, where they say: "How mistaken we were to have allowed the White House to implement its aggressive foreign policies against the weak without supervision."

It is as if they were telling you, the people of America: "Hold to account those who have caused us to be killed, and happy is he who learns from others' mistakes."

And among that which I read in their gestures is a verse of poetry. "Injustice chases its people, and how unhealthy the bed of tyranny."

As has been said: "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure."

And know that: "It is better to return to the truth than persist in error." And that the wise man doesn't squander his security, wealth and children for the sake of the liar in the White House.

In conclusion, I tell you in truth, that your security is not in the hands of Kerry, nor Bush, nor al-Qaida. No.

Your security is in your own hands. And every state that doesn't play with our security has automatically guaranteed its own security.

And Allah is our Guardian and Helper, while you have no Guardian or Helper. All peace be upon he who follows the Guidance.


Aljazeera

[Doreen Peri]

thanks!

I've been looking all over for this.

Will read and comment later.

[mtmynd]

Hey, Z!

I saw that today, too. I ended up saving it so I could do some more reviews on what he said.

I do think (despite all the hatred America and friends have towards Osama) that he brought up some very valid points... balance seems to be his main point and realistically who can completely disagree with that...?

Altho the immediate question that came to my mind was, "Yes, but does that justify the slaughter of some 3.ooo Americans?" A tough call when we hear how many Arab/Muslims have lost their lives for so long thru non-Arab aggressions.

I don't think many would disagree that we are living in a global world that is shrinking daily. If we are to live in some semblance of harmony I think it is imperative to accept that in a global economy, a global neighborhood, that we must learn to respect the differences of those within the neighborhood... afterall, that is the promise of our own country towards it's different races, creeds and religions.

But I don't think too many American's will see his message as being anything but a chastisement towards our own hopes and aspirations, unfortunately.

[interesting side note: while watching one of the news channels this a.m., a short interview with various voters included one with an Arab-American who happened to admit that he was and has been a Republican but upon reading Osama's message in Arab and understanding Bush's policies he felt he had to cast his vote to Kerry, who, he added, he felt would better understand the global situation.]

[mnaz]

I don't know..... This must be a bad translation or something.

Haven't you heard? I mean, it's been all over the news and in all
the speeches for three years now.......... They hate us because of our "freedom". Our President has been telling us this, over and over, and he wouldn't lie about something that big, would he?


Seriously though, this points to the tragic mistake we make when we say that searching for root causes of terrorism is "pointless", or it amounts to "letting the terrorists win". I've never understood that nonsense.

[Doreen Peri]

Despite a couple of awkward sentences, probably due to the translation, this reads quite clearly.

It does not justify the killing of 3000 people on 9/11 BUT what's not to understand?

They want us OUT of there. They want us off their land and they want us to stop killing their people. What's not to get?

Sounds like a clear case of retaliation to me. The US hit them killing women and children and they hit back.

Trouble is, the US KEEPS hitting them Over and over. Let's take a body count. 3,000 American citizens on 911. 100,000 + Iraqi civilians. Who knows how many Palestinians? and more....

If America wants to fight terrorism, why doesn't it LISTEN to the "terrorists"?

There are a couple of sentences which I don't quite understand .... like how can American PEOPLE stop our government from doing these things? We can't. So, it's NOT up to us. We can vote in the polls like we did today but who's to know the outcome? Even if Kerry is elected, he talks a good hawk talk so who knows what will happen over there? So, when he says it's up to us, he's wrong. Somebody should tell him that.

The other part I didn't understand was when he mentions Bush reading a story to the kids when the planes hit the towers. Bin Laden says Bush could have done more and stopped it sooner. HOW?

You know what's been eating me since the debates.... during all of the debates, not ONCE were the Palestinians mentioned. Not one time. And this situation is key to the troubles in the mid-east.

Thanks again for posting this, Z. I'm going to read it through another couple of times and share it with others.

[Zlatko Waterman]

All:


David Hackworth is one of the most decorated soldiers in America. I append his list of awards simply to show that Colonel Hackworth has profound experience with the military, as soldier and combatant, commander, commentator and journalist:


(paste)


Military Awards



ENTITLEMENTS OF COL. DAVID H. HACKWORTH
(U.S. ARMY, RETIRED)

AWARDS & DECORATIONS
COLONEL DAVID H. HACKWORTH
(U.S. ARMY, RETIRED)




Individual Decorations & Service Medals:

Distinguished Service Cross (with one Oak Leaf Cluster)
Silver Star (with nine Oak Leaf Clusters)
Legion of Merit (with three Oak Leaf Clusters)
Distinguished Flying Cross
Bronze Star Medal (with "V" Device & seven Oak Leaf Clusters)(Seven of the awards for heroism)
Purple Heart (with seven Oak Leaf Clusters)
Air Medal (with "V" Device & Numeral 34)(One for heroism and 33 for aerial achievement)
Army Commendation Medal (w/ "V" Device & 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Good Conduct Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Army of Occupation Medal (with Germany and Japan Clasps)
National Defense Service Medal (with one Bronze Service Star)
Korean Service Medal (with Service Stars for eight campaigns)
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Vietnam Service Medal (2 Silver Service Stars = 10 campaigns)
Armed Forces Reserve Medal
Unit Awards:

Presidential Unit Citation
Valorous Unit Award (with one Oak Leaf Cluster)
Meritorious Unit Commendation
Badges & Tabs:

Combat Infantryman Badge (w/ one Star; representing 2 awards)
Master Parachutist Badge
Army General Staff Identification Badge
Foreign Awards:

United Nations Service Medal (Korea)
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device (1960)
Vietnam Cross of Gallantry (with two Gold Stars)
Vietnam Cross of Gallantry (with two Silver Stars)
Vietnam Armed Forces Honor Medal (1st Class)
Vietnam Staff Service Medal (1st Class)
Vietnam Army Distinguished Service Order, 2d Class
Vietnam Parachutist Badge (Master Level)
Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
Republic of Vietnam Presidential Unit Citation
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation (with three Palm oak leaf clusters)
Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Honor Medal, First Class Unit Citation (with one Palm oak leaf cluster)
World War II Merchant Marine Awards:

Pacific War Zone Bar
Victory Medal

Note: As per a Department of the Army audit conducted by COL Pam Mitchell, Chief Personnel ServiceSupport Division on May 6 1999.












Here is Hackworth's commentary, written just before the election, a reflection on the reading of Bin Laden's speech and videotape:


(paste)



Four Decades of Imperial Hubris





By David H. Hackworth



In most of the wars we’ve fought, our leaders have understood our enemies and how to take them down. But in the current shootout – a continuation of the revolutionary fervor first ignited in Algeria in the 1960s, then fanned by the Iranian Revolution, a huge Jihad victory against the Soviets in Afghanistan, Israel’s humiliating withdrawal from Lebanon and its interminable fight in Palestine culminating in 9/11 and our retaliatory invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq – America’s leaders from both major parties and our military and intelligence establishments remain in deep denial and blindly continue to believe that because we’ve got the power, we shall overcome.



Ditto a large chunk of the American public that has sent me gigabytes of e-mail about how we should do a Goldwater on the bad guys and “bomb them back to the Stone Age” – when that's where most of our 1.3 billion potential Islamic opponents already are. If ignorance is bliss, America might have cornered the market on happiness.



But unless we get real and bend our brains around what motivates our enemy, we will never prevail against the increasing millions of polarized Muslims who are becoming more united with every explosion of smart bombs and every Yankee occupation boot stumping across their turf.



It’s a commonly held belief among Muslims that the United States is grabbing their land in order to destroy their faith and their ancient way of life. Most believe that our unconditional support of repressive Muslim regimes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and other “friendly” Arab lands is all about keeping the people in chains and sucking up their oil on the cheap at a price that Joe and Jane Doe can pay at the U.S. pump without stroking out.



“Bin Laden has been precise in telling America the reasons he is waging war on us,” writes “Anonymous,” the author of Imperial Hubris, a critically important book that defines Osama and what’s driving his bombers. And the reasons don’t “have anything to do with our freedom, liberty, and democracy, but have everything to do with U.S. policies and actions in the Muslim world.”



A rationale that bin Laden – dressed in white robes topped by a golden cloak – repeated for our edification last week on global television. Both presidential candidates came back with canned sound bites, choosing to respond only to the medium, not the inconvenient message.



The author of Imperial Hubris is a CIA intelligence analyst who’s spent almost two decades “focused exclusively on terrorism, Islamic insurgencies and the state of affairs of South Asia – Afghanistan and Pakistan.” He is our top intelligence gun on Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and the “dangers they pose and symbolize for the United States.” He writes:



“The war bin Laden is waging has everything to do with the tenants of the Islamic religion. He could not have his current – and increasing – level of success if Muslims did not believe their faith, brethren, resources, and lands to be under attack by the United States and, more generally, the West.”



Years after the fall of Tehran and almost 38 months after 9/11, our leaders still don’t recognize the scope of the bin Laden threat and keep repeating the same mistakes so often that many of the folks we’re fighting are convinced we’re crazy.



As the author of Imperial Hubris puts it, “We have not yet begun to fight the kind of war needed to defeat the forces he (bin Laden) leads and inspires.”



Our Islamic enemy might not have the capability for a Stalingrad or Saigon, but according to the terrorist beheader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, our soldiers in Iraq are “easy and mouthwatering targets.”



History is peppered with examples of a numerically inferior insurgent opponent destroying a Goliath. Especially a Goliath who obviously learned nothing from the Vietnam experience.



Israeli historian Martin van Creveld, one of the world’s top insurgency experts, says: “If you are strong, and you are fighting the weak ... (t)he problem is that you cannot prove yourself against someone who is much weaker than yourself – the Israeli forces have not yet lost, but they are, as far as I can see, well on their way to losing.”



We have mindlessly waded into the same minefield and are getting clobbered daily. And we will never win over an enemy we refuse to understand.






Col. David H. Hackworth (USA Ret.) is SFTT.org co-founder and Senior Military Columnist for DefenseWatch magazine. For information on his many books, go to his home page at Hackworth.com, where you can sign in for his free weekly Defending America. Send mail to P.O. Box 11179, Greenwich, CT 06831. His newest book is “Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts.” © 2004 David H. Hackworth. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.

[abcrystcats]

Doreen: "If America wants to fight terrorism, why doesn't it LISTEN to the "terrorists"?"

Because that's like listening to the kidnappers find out how to stop kidnapping.

I repeat that I don't believe one word Osama Bin Laden says. His promises are the promises of a mass murderer and probably a madman. I think we should have stayed in Afghanistan and hunted him down. It's a bad mistake to let him live on like this, becoming a folk hero in the minds of Muslims everywhere. We are actually taking his words seriously and analyzing them as if he were some kind of officially recognized ambassador. He has no right to dictate terms to us.

He is telling us that if we leave the Middle East strictly alone -- and that includes leaving Israel strictly alone -- then he will leave us alone. Believing him is like believing the burglar who tells you that if you give him your watch and your wallet today, he won't rob your house next week.

What happens to Israel without US support? What gives him the right to tell a nation what other nations it may protect and defend? If we abandon Israel, that's taking the chance that millions of Israelis will be murdered and more injustice will be done. Yet, he's saying that the WTC was attacked because he didn't like the US defense of Israel's borders. I find the whole thing outrageous -- and very much like a kidnapper who says he'll release your wife unharmed if only you do exactly as he says. It's nonsense.

I may not support our invasion of Iraq. I think our invasion of Iraq is at least as bad in many ways as Bin Laden's attack on the WTC. Certainly, more lives have been lost, and it is totally unethical for us to invade and conquer another country. That is tyranny and injustice. But just because I am against the Iraq War,it does not make me an admirer and supporter of Osama Bin Laden and his gang of merry terrorists.

By taking his speech seriously, we are giving far too much credence to a dangerous criminal. It doesn't surprise me one bit that he would send a timely recorded message to Americans presuming to tell them what to think and why, but it does surprise me that we would fall into his trap so easily. Terrorists aren't a legitimate political force, anywhere in the world. They are just TERRORISTS and ought to be treated as such.

We should have killed him when we had the chance.

[mtmynd]

good points, cat.

one question - why didn't we kill him when we had the chance? that in itself brings up many speculations don't you think?

[Doreen Peri]

Well, whether he's a madman or not (which he most likely is because of what he did by planning 911), it's very true when he said we have gone on their land and killed people so whether we want to take him seriously or not and believe him or not that they will stop threatening our country once we stop threatening theirs, I STILL think we should stop threatening theirs for both moral reasons AND on the off-chance that the guy may actually be telling us the TRUTH.

What has the US got to lose by getting OFF of their land and STOPPING killing people?

[mtmynd]

Doreen - what we have to lose is Pax Americana... the corporations are not nearly done.

I saw on the news yesterday that Walmart will be putting in 34 (?) new stores in China next year. I must assume that Walmart is itching to get into Iraq by 2006, eh?

[Doreen Peri]

Oh yeah... how could I have such short term memory loss?

Pax Americana.... the New American Century....

Shit.... what's it WORTH to these people?

I'm so upset about all this... I'm not sleeping well, I'm angry, I'm worried, I cry a lot

Who the hell do these people think they are?

I don't want to be part of this country any more if this is what it's all about.

btw... great talking to you on the phone the other night, Cec.... I was a bit tipsy, if you couldn't tell... geeshhhh

Wish we could sit in the same room and talk... hopefully one day

[abcrystcats]

Of course I agree about the War in Iraq, and about American Imperialism in general. I had a longer essay response to this that got erased by my hitting a wrong key.

In that, I said that what we need to do is work with the sane leaders in the Middle East, study Middle Eastern culture, provide opportunities for economic growth in nations that treat their populations humanely, and provide charity and education directly to the people in the Middle Eastern nations that suffer under tyranny. We also need to continue to tactically strike back at terrorists, as we have done in the past, with the cooperation of as many Middle Eastern nations as we can get. Bush's impatient, direct approach (divide and conquer) is only earning us enemies everywhere -- not just in the Middle East, but around the world.

I've got all that down pat, but I refuse to learn foreign policy from a terrorist!!!

I think he's trying to hold the American public at ransom with these absurd speeches of his, and I think the less credit we give him for anything he says, the better off we'll be. He plotted his crime for nearly 20 years -- at his own admission. How long can the average person hold a hateful thought? He not only held it, he designed, built, planned and executed it!! We wouldn't even be in Iraq if it weren't for him.

He's the ambassador of death.

[mtmynd]

cat - osama being the "ambassador of death" could work in dubya's favor could it not? it has so far anyway...

i don't believe one can dismiss everything he had to say simply because he said it. which doesn't mean that i would trust him, but then again i can't trust our own current government either... but he did bring up some facts that would certainly relate to the pulse of the arab world, which obviously does not translate well with our governments wishes.

[abcrystcats]

Of course it could ... I said that on mnaz's conspiracy post this evening.

The important things Osama said are repetitions of what many other observers have said before. I truly don't think there was anything earthshaking in his speech -- except that he made it. I don't reject the valid ideas in his speech and I don't credit them either.

He's obviously had time to study American politics. He knows what to say and how to strike a chord with the public. He's seen Michael Moore's movie, he's been on the internet reading editorials and other things. That's interesting, but it doesn't make him any less an international criminal.

I ask you to compare what Osama has said with what any of the average participants in this forum or Arcanum has said. Really, there's nothing earthshaking in Osama's speech;he's just parroting the liberals in America. Point out one unique thing in his speech -- something that hasn't been said before.

Hitler was profound. Read Mein Kampf. Charles Manson was charismatic. These things mean nothing to me if they come from a rotten heart. Same goes for Bush. Believe me, I'm not trying to exonerate him or his deeds. They are equally evil.

On the other hand, if I believed what Osama said and took it to heart, I'd be advocating the abandonment of Israel. As little as I know about the history of that state, I do not think we ought to abandon it militarily, just because Al Qaeda bombed the WTC -- just because he says we ought to do it, or else he will perhaps mastermind more plots against us.

You do notice that he isn't just talking about Iraq in this speech -- and he isn't just talking about American corporate power in the Middle East taking over oil reserves -- he's talking primarily about the state of Israel. It was that state and the politics surrounding it that caused him to plot and carry out 9-11. I can agree with the other two -- but as for Israel, I think if we stopped supporting it, we would possibly be condemning millions of people to death.

I think it is our fate to live with terrorism in some form as long as we support Israel. Osama has certainly implied that. The only thing we can do is get rid of the terrorists -- one by one if that is the only way. Getting out of the Middle East completely and just leaving them alone would be homicide to Israel and maybe even suicide for us.

I don't trust Osama and I don't credit his crude politics any more than I credit mine or the rest of ours. He's no brilliant political pundit. He's an average jerk who reads on the internet and has someone available to translate for him and create a speech. Just because he's echoing many of the things we've said is no reason to give him brownie points. He doesn't need brownie points, he needs a bullet in the brain. Sorry if this violence offends you, but he spent 20 years plotting the deaths of thousands. If he had fully succeeded, nearly 50,000 Americans would be dead now. I think that he deserves to die for that.

By the same token, perhaps Bush deserves to die for what he did. There's far too much political fog surrounding his actions, or I would be able to say that without the "perhaps".

Condemn Bush all you want. Condemn the Iraq War all that you want. You have my full attention. But praise Osama Bin Laden or his words, and I'm going to fight you every step of the way. Don't hold up one murderer to praise and push down another. That's the height of hypocrisy. Even if Bin Laden's speech were full of brilliant observations (and it's NOT) I would say this. As it is, it's a mediocre piece of sophomoric popular politics, uttered by a psychopathic madman. He ought to be dead. He doesn't deserve your respect, he deserves three thousand deaths. Nothing you say will change my mind about this.

[abcrystcats]

I am grateful for the translation and I printed it out, too. I am glad that someone thought to post it, et cetera. I am just surprised that so many people want to analyze it as if it had serious merit. Osama is not in a position to negotiate ANYTHING. And before I get worked up again .... see the above.