'Osama' offers olive branch
2004-04-15 08:46
Cairo, Egypt - In a new recording broadcast on Arab satellite networks on Thursday, a man who identified himself as al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden offered a "truce" to European countries that do not attack Muslims, saying it would begin when their soldiers leave Islamic nations.
"I announce a truce with the European countries that do not attack Muslim countries," the taped message said as the stations showed an old, still picture of bin Laden.
There was no way to verify the speaker's identity.
The message said the truce would last three months and could be extended. However, the speaker indicated it would not begin right away: "The truce will begin when the last soldier leaves our countries," he said without elaborating.
"They say that we kill for the sake of killing, but reality shows that they lie," the speaker said. Russians, he said, were only killed after attacking Afghanistan in the 1980s and Chechnya, Europeans after invading Iraq and Afghanistan and the Americans in New York after "supporting the Jews in Palestine and their invasion of the Arabian Peninsula".
Stop spilling our blood
"Stop spilling our blood so we can stop spilling your blood," the message added. "This is a difficult but easy equation."
This truce, the message said, was to deny "the war mongers" further opportunities and because polls have shown that "most of the European peoples want reconciliation" with the Islamic world.
The message also vowed revenge for Israel's killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
"We vow before God to take revenge for him from America for this, God willing."
The message said that American policy ignores the "real problem," which is "the occupation of all of Palestine."
It denounced the US war on Iraq, saying it was making "billions of dollars" for companies, "whether those that make weapons or those that take part in reconstruction," naming the American firm Halliburton.
- AP