Al-Jazirah Satellite Channel Television (in Arabic)
1835 GMT 27 Dec 01

[Statement by al-Qai'da leader Usama Bin Ladin carried within the "First War
of the Century" program; place, date not given -- recorded]

[FBIS Translated Text]

We praise God, seek His help, and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in
God from the evils of our souls and our bad deeds. A person who is guided by
God will never be misguided by anyone and a person who is misguided by God
can never be guided by anyone. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah
alone, Who has no partner and that Muhammad is His slave and messenger.

Three months after the blessed strikes against world infidelity and the head
of infidelity, namely America, and almost two months after the fierce
Crusade against Islam, it gives us pleasure to speak about some of the
ramifications of these events. These events have revealed extremely
important things to Muslims. It has become clear that the West in general,
led by America, bears an unspeakable Crusader grudge against Islam.

Those who lived these months under the continuous bombardment by the various
kinds of the US aircraft are well aware of this. Many villages were wiped
out without any guilt. Millions of people were made homeless during this
very cold weather. Those oppressed men, women, and children now live in
tents in Pakistan. They committed no guilt. Although it was a mere
suspicion, America launched this fierce campaign. Had America had enough
evidence that makes it certain that those who carried this action belong to
Europe--such as the IRA--it would have had a lot of means to address this
problem. Because the matter was a mere suspicion pointing to the Muslim
world, the Crusade grudges against the Muslim world appeared very clearly.

While saying this, I would like to emphasize the truth of the conflict
between us and the United States. This truth is very important and serious
not only for the Muslims, but also for the entire world. The United States
leveled accusations against this group of mujahidin, who left their
countries to stage jihad for the sake of God. These accusations are not
based on any evidence. It is only a case of tyranny, injustice, and
aggression. Praise be to God Almighty, the history of the Arab mujahidin is
clear and clean. Those mujahidin left 20 years ago when the true, detestable
terrorism appeared at the hands of the Soviet Union against those heroes and
the innocent people in Afghanistan. Arab mujahidin left their work,
universities, families, and kinfolk to please God and champion the religion
of God and the oppressed Muslims. It is unreasonable that those who left
their countries to champion the oppressed should go today to kill innocent
people, as some people allege.

America then supported all those who took part in jihad against and fought
the Russians. When God granted his grace to the Arab mujahidin to support
the oppressed ones in Palestine and those innocent children, America became
angry and hostile to all those who fought in Afghanistan.

What is going on in Palestine is extremely clear. All of humanity and since
the time of Adam, may peace be upon him, are agreed on this [what is going
on in Palestine]. The natural instincts of people may become corrupt and
people may differ on many things. But, there are natural instincts which God
preserves and thus never become corrupt, except in the case of those who go
astray and go too far in injustice and aggression. One of the agreed-upon
facts is that people cannot kill children even if some injustice and
aggression is committed against them. What happened in Palestine, and what
is happening there today in terms of the deliberate murder of children is
very ugly. This is the highest degree of injustice and aggression that
threatens all of humanity. Except in rare cases, history has never known
anyone who killed children. This was the method of the Pharaoh. God granted
grace to and saved the Israelites from the Pharaoh. And remember, we
delivered you from the people of the Pharaoh, they set you hard tasks and
punishments, slaughtered your sons and let your women-folk live. [Koranic
verse]

The head of injustice, infidelity, and aggression; namely, the Pharaoh, was
known for slaying children. However, the Israelites used the same method
against our children in Palestine. The whole world saw the Israeli soldiers
killing Muhammad al-Durrah and many others. The whole world -- both in the
East and West and regardless of their sects -- and people, just because they
are people, condemned that action. However, America presses ahead with its
injustice by supporting the unjust ones and aggressors against our people in
Palestine. God Almighty explained that if a soul commits aggression and
reaches the level of killing a soul without guilt, then this is extremely
ugly. What is uglier than this is killing innocent children. God says: On
that account, we ordained for the children of Israel that if anyone slew a
person -- unless it be for murder or spreading mischief in the land –- it
would be as if he slew the whole people; and if anyone saved a life, it
would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. [Koranic verse]

It is as if they -- Israel, backed by America -- have killed all children in
the world. What will prevent Israel from killing our children tomorrow in
Tabuk, al-Jawf, and other areas. What will the rulers do if Israel expands
its territories, according to their unjust and false books, and announces
that its borders reach Medina? What will the rulers do while they are
subservient to this Zionist-American lobby?

Therefore, the fair-minded people must wake up. What befell Muhammad
al-Durrah and his brothers will befall their [the rulers'] children and
women in the future. There is no power but in God. So, this issue is of
utmost gravity. The United States is practicing the detestable terrorism in
its ugliest forms in Palestine and Iraq. Bush the father -- the ill-famed
man -- was the reason behind the killing of over one million children in
Iraq. This is in addition to the men and women. What happened on 11
September is nothing but a reaction to the continuing injustice being done
to our children in Palestine, Iraq, Somalia, southern Sudan, and elsewhere,
as well as Kashmir and Asia. This thing concerns the nation in its entirety.
This is something that requires people to rise from their slumber and rush
to find a solution to this disaster, which threatens mankind.

Those who condemned these operations looked at the event as an isolated one.
They did not link it with the previous events and the reasons behind it.
Therefore, their view is parochial and is neither grounded in Shari'a nor in
reason. They simply saw the people, the United States, and the media
criticizing these operations. Therefore, they criticized them.

In doing so, they act just like the wolf, which upon seeing a lamb, said:
You are the one who muddied my water last year. The Lamb replied: It was not
me who did it. The wolf replied: No, it was you. The Lamb then said: I was
born only this year. The wolf replied: So, it was your mother who muddied my
water. The wolf then ate the lamb. Upon seeing her child being torn under
the fangs of this wolf, the poor mother, motivated by the sentiment of
motherhood, butted the wolf without causing him any injury. The wolf cried,
saying: Look at this terrorist. So, the parrots repeated what the wolf said.
They said: Yes, we denounce the butting of the wolf by the female sheep.

Where were you when the wolf ate the female sheep's lamb? These blessed and
successful strikes are reactions to what is happening on our land in
Palestine, Iraq, and elsewhere. By continuing this policy, America [changes
thought] with the assumption of power by George Bush the son, who started
his term in office by launching violent airstrikes on Iraq to affirm the
policy of injustice and aggression and that the blood of Muslims has no
value. This led to this blessed reply, thanks to God the Almighty

These blessed attacks have great meanings, for they clearly showed that this
arrogant and supercilious power, the Hubal [an idol that used to be
worshipped by pagans before the advent of Islam] of the age, America, is
fragile and, thanks to Almighty God, collapsed so quickly despite having
great economic power.

Those who carried out the act were not 19 Arab countries. And those who
moved were not the armies and ministries of the Arab countries, which have
become used to submission and injustice afflicting us in Palestine and
elsewhere. Rather, they were 19 secondary school students; I hope God will
accept them. They shook America's throne and struck at the US economy in the
heart. They struck the largest military power deep in the heart, thanks to
God the Almighty. This is a clear proof that this international usurious,
damnable economy -- which America uses along with its military power to
impose infidelity and humiliation on weak people -- can easily collapse.
Thanks to Almighty God, those blessed attacks, as they themselves admitted,
have inflicted on the New York and other markets more than a trillion
dollars in losses. With small capabilities, they used the planes of the
enemy and studied in the schools of the enemy. So they did not need training
camps. Rather, God helped them, and they taught those arrogant people, who
see freedom as meaningless if not belonging to the white race, a tough
lesson. These people believe that other people must be humiliated and
enslaved. They do not react, but rather applaud their leaders when they
strike us, as was the case before in Iraq.

Despite America's recent show of its military power in Afghanistan, and
despite its pouring of anger on the weak people of Afghanistan, we learned,
thanks to Almighty God, great and important lessons on how to confront this
arrogant power. For example, if the front-line with the enemy is 100
kilometers long, the line should be wide. This means we should not be
satisfied with a defense line that is 100, 200, or 300 meters wide. Rather,
the line should be a few kilometers wide. Trenches should then be dug in
breadth and width. The intensity of the US bombing is therefore reduced
before completing the destruction of these lines. There should be light and
swift forces to move from one line to another and from one defense unit
[huzmah] to another defense unit. We learned this following the intensive US
bombardment on the north lines and on the Kabul lines. In this way, years
will pass and America -- God willing -- will not be able to break the lines
of the mujahidin.

On the other hand, fighting has two elements: The fighters and the money to
buy weapons. This thing is asserted in many verses in God's book. God hath
purchased of the Believers their persons and their goods for theirs in
return is the Garden of Paradise. [Koranic verse] So the two elements of
fighting are money and souls.

Though the US military power is far from us, and our weapons cannot reach
their aircraft, it is possible to absorb these attacks through wide defense
lines. There is another way through hitting the economic structure, which is
basic for the military power. If their economy is destroyed, they will be
busy with their own affairs rather than enslaving the weak peoples. It is
very important to concentrate on hitting the US economy through all possible
means.

Those who claim that they are advocates of humanity and freedom, we saw here
their real crimes. A piece of shrapnel is more than enough [to kill] a human
being. The weight of this shrapnel is 7 grams. Out of its rancor against the
Taliban and Muslims, America dropped on our brothers on the front lines
bombs, weighing 7 tones each.

For those who can calculate, this means 7,000 kilos or 7 million grams while
man needs only seven grams, which are more than enough. When the youths --
may God accept them as martyrs -- detonated in Nairobi less than two tones
[of explosives], America said that this was a terrorist strike with a weapon
of mass destruction. However, it did not refrain from dropping two shells
each weighing seven million grams. After bombarding entire villages without
any justification but with the purpose of terrorizing people only and making
them scared of hosting the Arabs or coming close to them the [US] defense
secretary stated that this is our right. It is their right to annihilate
people so long as they are Muslims and non-American. This is a crime per se.
It is clear and conspicuous and all the statements you hear them say that it
was carried out by mistake are pure and clear lies. A few days ago, they hit
what they claimed to be al-Qa'ida positions in Khost and dropped a guided
missile on a mosque. They said that this was a mistake. After
investigations, it was confirmed that the ulema were performing their
Ramadan night prayers. They had a meeting after these prayers with the hero
struggler Shaykh Jalal-al-Din Haqqani, one of the most prominent former
leaders of the jihad against the Soviet Union, who rejected this US
occupation of Afghanistan. They bombarded the mosque while the Muslims were
praying, killing 150. This was their fate but Shaykh Jalal was not hurt, may
God grant him long life. This is the crusader grudge. Those who repeat words
without realizing their meaning should be careful when they say that they
condemn terrorism. Our terrorism against America is commendable. It seeks to
make the unjust stop making injustice. It seeks to make America stop its
support for Israel, which kills our people.

The issue is very clear, cannot you be reasonable? America and the Western
leaders repeatedly said that HAMAS and the Islamic Jihad in Palestine and
other warring organizations are terrorism organizations. If self-defense is
terrorism, what is legitimate then? Our defense and our fighting are not
different from the fighting of our brothers in Palestine, such as HAMAS. We
fight for the sake of Almighty God and to make the word of God the higher
word and the word of the unbelievers the lower one, and to end the
oppression inflicted on the weak in Palestine and elsewhere.

The matter is very clear. No wise Muslim should stand in that trench under
any pretext. This is the most dangerous, fiercest, and most savage Crusade
war launched against Islam. God willing, the end of America is imminent. Its
end is not dependent on the survival of this slave to God. Regardless if
Usama is killed or survives, the awakening has started, praised be God. This
was the fruit of these operations.

I beseech God almighty to accept these young men as martyrs and to group
them together with the prophets, the pious believers, the martyrs, and the
virtuous people, and those are the best of companions. These young men have
done a great deed, a glorious deed. May God reward them well. We beseech God
to make them good assets for their mothers and fathers. They have raised the
heads of the Muslims. They gave America a lesson, which it will not forget,
God willing. In a previous interview with ABC television, I warned that if
it enters into a conflict with the sons of the two holy mosques, America
will forget the horrors of Vietnam. This, indeed, was the case; praised be
God. What is to come is even greater, God willing.

Fifteen young men came from the land of the two holy mosques [Saudi Arabia];
we beseech God to accept them as martyrs. They came from the land of faith,
which houses the Muslims' largest treasure. A saying by the prophet, God's
peace be upon him, says that faith sticks to holy Medina as a snake sticks
to its hole.

Also, two came from the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, from the
[United Arab] Emirates. Another, Ziyad al-Jarrah, came from Al-Sham [Greater
Syria] and we beseech God to accept him as a martyr. Another, Muhammad Ata,
came from Egypt. We beseech God to accept them all as martyrs.

With this act of theirs, these young men gave great examples. They showed
that this faith in their hearts dictates many requirements. It dictates that
souls must be given for the sake of God. These men opened a great door to
virtue and goodness.

Those we hear in the media saying that martyrdom-seeking fedayeen operations
are unacceptable are only repeating the whims of tyrants, the whims of
America and its agents. A nation of 1,200 million Muslims is being butchered
from east to west every day -- in Palestine, in Iraq, in Somalia, in
southern Sudan, in Kashmir, in the Philippines, in the Bosnia, in Chechnya,
and in Asam -- and we do not hear anything from them. But if the victim and
oppressed rises to sacrifice his soul for his religion, then we hear their
voices. No one hears the voice of the 1,200 million Muslims, who are being
butchered. But if one man rises to defend those [victims], they rise to
repeat the whims of the tyrants. They have no mind and no reason.

In the story of the boy, the king, the magician, and the monk, there is a
clear proof that one can sacrifice one's self for the sake of God. There is
another meaning here; namely, that victory is not recognized only through
ostensible gains, as people tend to believe. Rather, victory is adherence to
principles.

God mentioned the people of the rift, eternalized their story, and praised
them for holding on to their faith. They were threatened with fire if they
refused to give up their faith. They, however, refused to announce unbelief
in God the Almighty and were put in fire.

Toward the end of the story of the boy, the unjust king orders throwing
those into the rift. A weak woman came carrying her son, and when she saw
the fire she became worried about her son and desperate. As the prophet
said, the son told his mother to be patient because she was right.

No Muslim would in any case wonder what profit those [perpetrators of the 11
September attacks] made or say that they wasted their lives, and whoever
says so is a complete ignoramus. They won the satisfaction of God the
Almighty and the heaven God promised them. For victory is not only material
gains, but also adherence to principles.

In the prophet's tradition, a boy with little knowledge used to shuttle
between a magician and a monk. When an animal once blocked a road to people,
the boy said he would now know who was better, the monk or the magician.
Given his little knowledge, the boy was unable to decide who was better,
which would have given him peace of mind. He asked God to show him who was
better. If the monk was dearer to God, then he would kill this animal. The
boy then took a stone and killed the animal with it. The monk came to the
boy and told him: My son, you are today better than me.

Despite the monk's knowledge and the boy's ignorance, God filled the heart
of this boy with the light of faith. The boy then started to sacrifice for
the sake of God.

The youth of Islam expect their scholars to say such words. They expect them
to tell those who carried their heads on their shoulders for the sake of God
the words that the scholar told that boy. They expect them to say: You are
now better than us. This is the truth.

In the tradition of the prophet, may God's peace be upon him, people differ
from one another based on the extent of their faith in God. It is not only
the acquisition of knowledge, but also the use of it.

As the prophet said, he who struggled against them with his hand is a
believer, he who struggled against them with his tongue is a believer, and
he who struggled against them with his heart is a believer.

And whoever fails to do any of these has no grain of faith. They struggled
against the biggest infidelity with their hands and hearts.

We hope God will accept them as martyrs.

Those -- as was reported in Sahih Al-Jami [a book containing the prophet's
tradition] -- are Hamzah Bin-Abd-al-Muttalib, the best of all martyrs, an
unknown man whose heart God filled with faith, and a man who stood up to
rebuke an unjust imam and the imam scolded him and then killed him.

This person won a great deal. He did not live in the time of the followers
[who lived after the time of the Prophet Muhammad and followed his
traditions] and even did not live in the time of the esteemed companions [of
Prophet Muhammad]. God elevated this person to the status of the best of all
martyrs. Our Prophet, God's peace be upon him, urged us to do this. So how
could a sane Muslim say: How did this person benefit? This is manifest
misguidance. We ask God to spare us such misguidance.

God enabled those young people to say to the head of world
infidelity--America and its allies: You are in the wrong and you are
misguided. They sacrificed themselves for the sake of "There is no god but
Allah."

There is much to say about these grave events. However, I will talk briefly
and concentrate on the need to continue the jihad action, militarily and
economically, against the United States. Praise be to God, the United States
has declined. The economic bleeding is continuing to date, but it requires
further strikes. The young people should make an effort to look for the key
pillars of the US economy. The key pillars of the enemy should be struck,
God willing.

Before I conclude, I would like to mention those heroes, those men, those
great giants, who removed the disgrace that befell our nation. I would like
to recite some poetry in praise of them and all those who follow the path of
Prophet Muhammad, God's peace be upon him. Before that, I would like to
emphasize a point, which is that the battles that are taking place today in
Afghanistan around the clock, especially against the Arab mujahidin and the
Taliban, have clearly revealed the extent of powerlessness of the US
Government, the extent of US weakness, and the fragility of the US soldier.
Despite the huge development in military technology, they could not do
anything, except by relying on the renegades and the hypocrites. What is the
difference today between Babrak Karmal who brought in the Russians to occupy
his country, and the deposed President Burhannuddin? Religion [din] is
innocent of Burhannuddin. Is there any difference between the two? The
former brought in the Russians to occupy the land of Islam and the latter
brought in the Americans to occupy the land of Islam. This shows, as I have
clearly mentioned, the weakness of the American soldier, praise be to God
Almighty. Therefore, the chance should be taken and the young people should
continue jihad and action against the Americans.

I conclude by reciting some poetry about those heroes, who came from the
land of the Hejaz, from the land of faith -- from Ghamid, Zahran,
Bani-Shihr, Harb, and Najd. We pray to God to accept them all [as martyrs].
There are also those who came from holy Mecca: Salim and Nawwaf al-Hazimi
and Khalid al-Mihdar. There are those who left from holy Medina. Those
people forsook life and its pleasures for the sake of "There is no god but
Allah."

I bear witness that they are sharper than any sword,

How often have they encountered hardship,

Staged assaults and showed fortitude.

How different are those who sold their souls to God,

Who smile in the face of death while the sword frowns on them,

Who use their chests as shields to protect their call.

When darkness spreads and gluttonous fangs bite us,

When our land is overfilled with blood,

When the tyrant moves freely in it,

And from the battlefield shining swords and horses disappear,

And the sound of music and drums becomes louder than moans,

Their storms blew to destroy his buildings and tell him,

We shall not stop the raids unless you depart our land.

God's peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you.




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