Bin Laden offers truce

[rick_reno]

I wish they'd capture or kill him, the sooner the better.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/19/D8F7QUA02.html

Al-Jazeera aired an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden on Thursday, saying al-Qaida is making preparations for attacks in the United States but offering a truce to build Iraq and Afghanistan.

The voice in the tape said heightened security measures in the United States are not the reason there have been no attacks there since Sept. 11, 2001. Instead, the reason is "because there are operations that need preparations, and you will see them," he said.

"Based on what I have said, it is better not to fight the Muslims on their land," he said. "We do not mind offering you a truce that is fair and long-term. ... So we can build Iraq and Afghanistan ... there is no shame in this solution because it prevents wasting of billions of dollars ... to merchants of war."

The speaker did not give conditions for a truce in the excerpts aired by Al-Jazeera.

 

[Ermac]

BinLaden and his usual rhetoric

We need to find the f*cker and just end it

 

[Manedwolf]

BinLaden and his usual rhetoric

We need to find the f*cker and just end it

Correction. We should have found him in 2001 and ended it. It's now 2006.

He's LAUGHING at us.

 

[wingnutx]

purportedly from Osama bin Laden

Funny how he quit making videos after we bombed Tora Bora.

 

[geekWithA.45]

He showed up on video right before the election, with the same deal, remember?

IIRC, it was vote for Kerry, and I won't hurt you.

Human garbage, with whom we will make no deals.

 

[wingnutx]

iirc that one was audio only, and also unverifiable.

 

[Delmar]

So, King Chump wants to make a deal with the infidels?? WE have a DEAL for you, sonny! Your 67 virgins are waiting patiently.......

 

[1911 guy]

Maybe the bearded idiot forgot...

The massive outrage that immediatley followed 9/11. If he were to organize another large scale attack on American soil, he would accomplish little more than putting fence sitters firmly in the hawk camp while making fence sitters of the doves.
Maybe he also forgot the fact that we have a president that for the faults he has, is not afraid to ream some third world country a new a$$ hole for conspiring with terrorists and a VP who wants nothing more than to turn the middle east into a sheet of glass.
Maybe he also forgot that even the lib media reported that after 9/11 firearm sales went up at a phenomenal rate. "Flyover Country" is one step closer to getting ready to skull fornicate someone. Grandmas who will run into a ditch to avoid an animal are blasting Bin Laden on computer screens instead of playing solitair.
Maybe he forgot the reason Japan was afraid to take the war to American soil. Does "rifle behind every blade of grass" ring a bell? Maybe he forgot that we are not the only country that has a price on his head and every time he pulls a stunt he loses more allies. I think his turban is wrapped a little too tight to allow for clear thinking on his part.

 

[Camp David]

Al-Jazeera aired an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden on Thursday....

While I respect the journalism creed, there is validity to the charge that a media bureau such as Al-Jazeera fuels world terror by continually serving the terrorists by broadcasting such threats...

What is the consensus herein regarding the nations of the world penalizing Al-Jazeera itself, and thereby denying terrorists a vehicle to carry their threats?

Does Al-Jazeera have an obligation to the world not to be used as a vehicle for the terrorists?

This is hardly the first time that Al-Jazeera has somehow managed to get hold of a tape from Al Qaeda; are these videos sent by mail, couriered to the station, or hand delivered? What would happen if Al-Jazeera were shut down?

As I said, while I respect the journalism effort, in my mind Al-Jazeera
has become an adjunct terror facilitator by its repeated broadcasts of terror threats... isn't that illegal?

 

[1911 guy]

Camp David,

Well said. I suspect that Al Jazeera realizes these things also and that is why they have their broadcast facilities in the same buildings as hospitals and schools. Wouldn't look good if we bombed a non-combatant facility to take out an arm of the enemy's propoganda machine.

 

[Zundfolge]

now I'm worried ... I find myself in agreement with Camp David ... that is surely a sign of the coming Apocalypse.

 

[cuchulainn]

Golly, let's do it! We'll be safe trusting bin Ladin and Al-Jazeera -- they've never done anything to make us doubt their honor and goodwill. La La La.

 

[1911 guy]

Zundfolge,

I had the same thought! No offense meant, Camp David, but some of your posts on other threads got me fired up. This one, however, is right on the money, in my opinion. Is that hoofbeats I hear?

 

[Lobotomy Boy]

The massive outrage that immediatley followed 9/11. If he were to organize another large scale attack on American soil, he would accomplish little more than putting fence sitters firmly in the hawk camp while making fence sitters of the doves.

Excellent point. The problem is that this works both ways and we should keep these principles in mind when conducting ourselves in foriegn affairs. This doesn't mean we should coddle terrorists, as those who only see life in stark, black-and-white terms might deduce, but we certainly need to be aware that every time we botch something, such as the initial occupation of Iraq, we have the same effect on other countries as 9/11 had on us. Why should we react in a normal, human fashion yet be surprised and outraged when people from other countries react the same way?

 

[boofus]

The guy that has the upper hand in a fight doesn't ask for a truce.

The war is getting to him and he wants to scream uncle.

Al jazeera is part of the enemy Command, Control, and Communications and is fair game for military strikes.

 

[DigitalWarrior]

While I respect the journalism creed, there is validity to the charge that a media bureau such as Al-Jazeera fuels world terror by continually serving the terrorists by broadcasting such threats...

What is the consensus herein regarding the nations of the world penalizing Al-Jazeera itself, and thereby denying terrorists a vehicle to carry their threats?

Does Al-Jazeera have an obligation to the world not to be used as a vehicle for the terrorists?

This is hardly the first time that Al-Jazeera has somehow managed to get hold of a tape from Al Qaeda; are these videos sent by mail, couriered to the station, or hand delivered? What would happen if Al-Jazeera were shut down?

As I said, while I respect the journalism effort, in my mind Al-Jazeera
has become an adjunct terror facilitator by its repeated broadcasts of terror threats... isn't that illegal?

They are a news organization. What they do is cover happenings around the world that their target audience has an interest in. They voice opinions that are common in their area and are rare here. I believe that there is partisanship for people who share their worldview, but technically still news. It is their right to speak freely when reporting news.

It is similar to Faux news. Faux News covers people who voice opinions that would be considered appalling in other parts of the world.

I still think they suck, but it is their right to suck.

 

[22-rimfire]

America is a finickey place when it comes to public opinion. Everybody talks about WWII like all of America was behind Roosevelt in conducting the war. Not so. I don't believe there was a majority in favor of the war except immediately after Pearl Harbor. So another successful terrorist act would galvanize public opinion in the short term, but not change a thing in the long term unless it was nuclear. Sometimes our leaders just have to do what is "right" regardless of public opinion. Iran seems to be next in line if their actions are consistant with rhetoric. I hope things cool down. Eventually something is going to break in the Middle East though. We need to take steps to develop our synfuel industry (oil shales and coal) and subsidize it as we will need it. One of the reasons we won in WWII is because of OIL supplies from the East Texas Oil Field. Those don't exist any more and we are vulnerable.

 

[Rusher]

I just dont beleive it.....it could be the base trying to turn them selves in to victims in order to gain sympathy ............or who knows a US psy-ops game to weaken the resolve of the lower ranks........it just doesnt sound like bin laden type speak

 

[rick_reno]

Text of tape message is here - assuming we can believe Al Jazeera.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/593298A0-3C1A-4EB4-B29D-EA1A9678D922.htm


"The new operations of al-Qaida has not happened not because we could not penetrate the security measures. It is being prepared and you'll see it in your homeland very soon," the voice attributed to bin Laden said, apparently addressing Americans.

"This message is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end those wars," it began.

"It was not my intention to talk to you about this, because those wars are definitely going our way.

"But what triggered my desire to talk to you is the continuous deliberate misinformation given by your President [George] Bush, when it comes to polls made in your home country which reveal that the majority of your people are willing to withdraw US forces from Iraq.

"We know that the majority of your people want this war to end and opinion polls show the Americans don't want to fight the Muslims on Muslim land, nor do they want Muslims to fight them on their (US) land.

"But Bush does not want this and claims that it's better to fight his enemies on their land rather than on American land.

"Bush tried to ignore the polls that demanded that he end the war in Iraq.

"We are getting increasingly stronger while your situation is getting from bad to worse," he told the US, referring to poor US troop morale and the huge economic losses inflicted by the war.

"The war in Iraq is raging and the operations in Afghanistan are increasing."

"In response to the substance of the polls in the US, which indicate that Americans do not want to fight Muslims on Muslim land, nor do they want Muslims to fight them on their land, we do not mind offering a long-term truce based on just conditions that we will stick to.

"We are a nation that Allah banned from lying and stabbing others in the back, hence both parties of the truce will enjoy stability and security to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, which were destroyed by war.

"There is no problem in this solution, but it will prevent hundreds of billions from going to influential people and warlords in America - those who supported Bush's electoral campaign - and from this, we can understand Bush and his gang's insistence on continuing the war."

Addressing Americans again, he said: "If your desire for peace, stability and reconciliation was true, here we have given you the answer to your call."

Bin Laden, who had not been heard of since a 27 December 2004 audiotape in which he anointed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man, as al-Qaida's leader in Iraq, also said his network was winning the war against the US.

"I would like to tell you that everything is going to our advantage and the number of your dead is increasing, according to Pentagon figures."

Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's deputy, said in a September videotape that his leader was still alive and leading the jihad against the West.

 

[boofus]

Everybody talks about WWII like all of America was behind Roosevelt in conducting the war. Not so. I don't believe there was a majority in favor of the war except immediately after Pearl Harbor.

The 'american' Left sprouts roots directly from the cowards, communists and enemy sympathizers from WW2. WW2 was about as justified a war as there could possibly be but yet there were still worthless leftist scumbags that protested against it, refused to serve, and undermined the war effort.

Just listen to the garbage played on the so-called 'progressive' radio stations. They rever the sub-human trash that protested the war against Hitler and Japanese aggression. Even though WW2 was an obvious case of Fight or Die.

 

[22-rimfire]

Al Qaeda, a truce? They started it. Who would you negotiate a truce with? They would be dead before the negotiators got to the meeting.

 

[Biker]

I just dont beleive it.....it could be the base trying to turn them selves in to victims in order to gain sympathy ............or who knows a US psy-ops game to weaken the resolve of the lower ranks........it just doesnt sound like bin laden type speak

I agree. Likely 'rope-a-dope'. Your enemy is always nicest to you just before he shanks ya.
Something wicked this way comes, methinks.
Biker

 

[Deodanth]

Bin Laden is very likely dead already. The SOB was on dialysis when we attacked Afghanistan, even healthy he would have been hard-pressed to hide from the world-wide intelligence manhunt that ensued, and the later attacks that I believe either directly resulted in his death or so exacerbated his failing health situation as to indirectly have led to his death. While some may imagine the old boy in a cave with a portable dialysis machine and a generator running, shaking his fist at the west, IMNSHO it's more likely that he's buried in an unmarked grave somewhere with an imposter sending out the very occasional radio messages to keep the stream of ignorant and impressionable disposable young people flowing from Syria, Iran, Turkey, et al.

~D

 

[GTSteve03]

This is obviously a last-ditch ploy by Al Quaeda to prevent total defeat.

Don't forget, the terrorists are on their last legs. We are turning the corner in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are bringing the shining beacon of liberty to that oppressed land. We must not falter in our resolve. We will not waver. Freedom is on the march!

 

[Camp David]

Something wicked this way comes, methinks.
Biker

Biker: Al Qaeda's 2nd in Command was targetted on Pakistan/Afghanistan border in the last week by armed UAV; we are unable to determine if he is alive or dead, but for sure several deputies were killed in the bombing... Did you expect bin Laden to release a tape saying he surrenders? Of course he is again going to threaten west...