Osama Bin Laden has warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting Al Qaida. These new threats were released in a new audiotape recently, where Bin Laden promises "blood for blood, destruction for destruction."
Most of the one-hour tape dealt with Iraq, as truly, Iraq is united against the Al Qaida terrorists. In Iraq, we have a saying which goes: "This is the last rise of the dying", or Sahwat al Mawt, for Al Qaida's Iraq branch is on the run.
Benazir Bhutto's assassination was not mentioned at all, which suggests the tape was made before her assassination.
Bin Laden is also heard saying: "We intend to liberate Palestine, the whole of Palestine from the [Jordan] river to the sea," threatening "blood for blood, destruction for destruction", reminding us of the way Saddam wanted to liberate Palestine through Iran during the 1980-1988 war with that country.
Saddam's slogan was "Jerusalem's liberation comes through the Eastern borders of the Arab nation", which was extremely long and winding, so he had to top it all by invading Kuwait for no reason which could not have been resolved in a diplomatic manner.
"We will not recognise even one inch for Jews in the land of Palestine as other Muslim leaders have," Bin Laden said.
This sentence sent me back 1,400 plus years, to the time of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). During his time, there were Jews all over the region, not as an occupation force of course, but as people who lived side by side with all the rest of us.
We even took the "Jews" with us when we left Andalusia. Not all Jews are Zionists, and wars are not the solution today. Negotiation tables are. Blood will only shed more blood and I do believe the region has had enough.
Reducing violence
In Iraq, a number of Sunni Arab tribes in the western Anbar province formed a coalition to fight Al Qaida-linked terrorists that are credited for deeply reducing violence in the province.
The Awakening Councils started forming after Al Qaida started blowing up locations with the sons of Sunni Arab tribes. One friend told me of a story where one tribal chief asked the terrorists to leave innocent people alone, and was subsequently threatened by the terrorists.
Bin Laden said in his new tape that Sunni Arabs who have joined the Awakening Councils "have betrayed the nation and brought disgrace and shame to their people". He added: "They will suffer in life and in the afterlife."
This is very interesting, as I have not seen a fact being distorted in this manner for a long time now. It is Al Qaida terrorists who have betrayed our principles and beliefs.
When the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) sent his armies in Islamic "futuhat-conquests" he would not stop telling the army's commanders: "Never harm a woman, child or man. Do not destroy trees, do not harm the land, and do not fight those who do not fight you".
So where does Al Qaida in Mesopotamia stand here?
Friends from Ramadi tell me that they felt ashamed when Al Qaida killed innocent kids and women through suicide bombers.
"This is not Islam, we are the religion of acceptance and tolerance, and the sooner we settle down, the faster the US will leave Iraq."
And I believe this is the whole point. Most probably Al Qaida in Mesopotamia does not want the US troops to leave Iraq, as Iraq has become their open game land. Hitting the US within the US is difficult, so what better way than to use Iraq as their scoring field?
Hours before the tape was issued, the US Multinational Forces Commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, stressed that Al Qaida was becoming increasingly fearful of losing the support of Sunni Arabs and had begun targeting the leaders of the Awakening Councils.
I cannot agree more, with an added word here: Al Qaida knows it has lost Iraq forever.
