Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on Pakistanis to rebel against President Pervez Musharraf in a new recording released on Thursday, saying his military’s siege of a militant mosque stronghold makes him an infidel. Bin Laden’s ultimate twin towers, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia – Osama bin Laden will release a new message soon declaring war on Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, al-Qaida announced Thursday. A banner posted on an Islamic militant Web site on Thursday advertised that another message would be released, though it did not say whether bin Laden would appear in video or speak in an audiotape.
“Soon, God willing: ‘Come to Jihad (holy war)’, from sheik Osama bin Laden, God protect him” the banner read.
“Urgent, al-Qaida declares war on the tyrant Pervez Musharraf and his apostate army, in the words of Osama bin Laden,” it read.
Such advertisements usually precede the release of the video by one to three days, according to IntelCenter, a U.S. counterterrorism group that monitors militant messages.
The announcement of the upcoming message came as al-Qaida released a new video in which bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, boasted that the United States was being defeated in Afghanistan, Iraq and other fronts. The sophisticated 80-minute video released Thursday on the same Web site was in the style of a documentary, intersplicing the speech by al-Zawahri with footage from the Sept. 11 attacks, interviews with experts and officials taken from Western and Arab television stations, and old footage and audiotapes of bin Laden.
Al-Zawahri began by condemning the Pakistani military’s July assault on Islamic militants who took over the Red Mosque in Islamabad, and he paid tribute to one of the militants’ leaders, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was killed in the fighting.
The siege “revealed the extent of the despicableness, lowliness and treason of Musharraf and his forces, who don’t deserve the honor of defending Pakistan, because Pakistan is a Muslim land, whereas the forces of Musharraf are hunting dogs under (President) Bush’s crucifix,” al-Zawahri said.
It is people like Musharraf who stand between ‘Global intifida’ led by Laden. Imagine a dilly-dallying Musharraf in Waziristan that would invite the ‘shock and awe’ of US, leading to a fragmented Pakistan in the North of India! Chaos brings great satisfaction to OBL and Co. For the objectives of these bloodthirsty tyrants, universal ‘Caliphate’ is only possible by waging a war against their own moderate brethren. Bin Laden’s ultimate twin towers, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, for his vision of ‘Global caliphate’ moderate regimes, have to be taken down and replaced by single minded religious tyrants who are ready to take on wars with the west.
He is an ideological demagogue who is now working hard to take the mantle of a ‘philosopher caliph’ on the lines of Socrates’s suggestions; someone should really learn from OBL cohorts on how to bastardize the nobility of clear philosophical thinking of the masters. His recent ramblings are to launch himself as a new intense strategist. This ‘philosopher caliph’ regrettably has no beneficial schema, his dreams can only become realistic through a new ‘unleashing of mass terror.’ As the doors in the west have been closed, the best bet is to destroy the lynch pin of stability within the nations of Islam; going after Musharraf is to go after the stability of northern India. As if chaos in Iraq, Afghanistan is not big enough mayhem, US invoked destruction of ‘Pakistan army’ offers the richest of the booty to the ideological warlords. The road to Mecca passes through the organized secular institutions of armed forces in countries like Turkey and Pakistan. The road map of self destruction is cleverly designed in this statement, by asking Pakistanis to ‘rebel’ he wants to force Musharraf to transform into a ‘reluctant ally’ from a ‘reliable ally’ hence inviting the wrath of the west. Reluctant secular Saddam led to the destruction of Iraqi Army a reluctant Musharraf will face a similar fate. Pakistan is not a single nation, it is a weak federation created in 1947, take the cementing institution out like Iraq and a new hotspot will be created that will offer OBL and Co an unsupervised role in the hinterland, the fangs of this instability are today checked at the borders of Attock River, he plans to shift that arc of instability to the Wagah, right at the door steps of India..
Peace and stability is anaemic to his global goals of mass intifada in the Islamic lands. Radicals are the greatest proponents of Islamic unity and caliphate. The unique method to reach this unison is mesmerising. The formula is simple: first, eliminate any opposing thought and then impose spiritual unity from top down. Definitely unity can only be achieved by force. The last time a universal Islamic Ottoman Caliphate existed under Selim the grim, Mamluks and Saffvids lost their dynasties. Might and conquest was an integral part of previous ideological unity. In an environment where state craft has become part and parcel of the new world, the radicals are selling a dream of nirvana where ‘great Islamic unity’ will under a caliph achieve the dominance that Islam is missing today. To achieve that, elimination of dissent is the primary object; nothing can be resolved peacefully hence bloodshed is a convenient tool of statecraft. Elimination of Musharraf is the finale of ‘global bedlam hypothesis’ that most extremists pursue with passion.
The background of this new threat.. excerpts from an article of 2002..
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/comment/194
When it mattered the most after Sept 11, Pakistan under Musharraf took the right decisions; which none of the strategists in the area ever thought that Pakistan was capable of. No one ever dreamt that moderation in the Pakistan army would be an overnight change of heart by the commander in chief.
Not that he did any favors to anyone, he owed it to humanity and mankind at large, however in a complete 180 degree turn which shocked Indian strategists who had always believed that the fruitless quest of fighting vain battles for Islam would once again steer Pakistan into taking a wrong decision and continue supporting the Taliban. In a succession of quick decisions he cleaned the slate, wiped out Taliban sympathizers like Mehmood, the dismissed chief of the ISI, and started anew.
The Sept 11 attacks were two-pronged, one to hit America within the safe confines of its homeland, which was a kind of a cold-blooded message with the stated objective of cowing the U.S. into appeasement. That first assumption was a deadly error by al Qaeda. They misread American history and could not evaluate the natural American response.
The second objective was to get Americans out of the Islamic world and leave the crescent of instability from Morocco to Pakistan in the hands of Islamic militants. As some believe the attacks were really not about the poverty or lack democracy within the Islamic countries, if this was the case, the hijackers should have been impoverished Afghans or Africans rather than rich Saudis.
The top leaders of al Qaeda include a trust-fund baby, hailing from one of the richest families in the Saudi kingdom, and another is a surgeon from a prominent Egyptian family. Clearly the attackers were not motivated by economic discontent, so what drove them? Religion, of course — although not everyone is ready to fully admit the role of Islam in September’s attacks.
The struggle led by bin Laden was not only to destroy the WTC but to create enough terror so as to move on and bring the ruled and the rulers of the Muslim world into a direct confrontation. Bin Laden and his cohorts, who undeniably represent the medieval era, are pitted against those who are slightly moderate and govern Muslim countries today.
Bin Laden and Mullah Omar, the ousted Taliban leader, used Afghanistan as a base for their strategy, the ultimate aim of which was to launch a Sunni revolution across the Muslim world in a hope to bring down moderate regimes such as Pakistan in its first stage.
Bin Laden, a veteran of Afghan wars, found in the Taliban enough of the tribalism and backwardness that could help him reincarnate the 1,400-year-old epoch once again.
“Talibanization” is the Sunni answer to the Shia revolution of Iran. Bin Laden wanted to become the Ayatollah Khomeini of the Sunni world. Talibanization under him would have definitely moved south into the hinterland of Pakistan as a counter to the Sunni global revolution had the response to the Sept 11 attacks not have taken out the roots of this global intifida.
Denying sanctuaries and breeding grounds to the global Islamic bandits under bin Laden is the biggest achievement of the U.S.-led campaign against the Taliban. This campaign has been successful as a result of a total cooperation from the moderate regime of Musharraf.
The task would have been much more complicated had anyone else would have been at the helm of the affairs. His personal risk and his correct decision to save the region from medieval reincarnation have saved the Islamic world from a major turmoil. Today the global militants are far weaker and Musharraf’s contribution are undeniable reality.
The militancy in Kashmir in terms of its scope and impact on Islamic world has some limitations on the global level but Islamic militants believe it has all the making of a firebrand Sunni revolution that could find a lot of sympathy in the Arab streets. Once Pakistan strategic assets are under their control, the next step would be to bring Saudi Arabia within the fold and restore the caliphate from Morocco to Indonesia.
By this view, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were just a preamble to win the hearts and minds of the worldwide community of Muslim believers. Bin Laden hoped that the attacks against the United States would spark uprisings by Muslims against their own American-backed regimes.
As Sandy Berger stated very correctly, “Bin Laden’s ultimate twin towers are Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.” The mixture of oil and strategic assets under one caliphate spread out from Morocco to Indonesia would be a dreadful consequence. This theoretical but very possible scenario was averted by swift U.S. action and total cooperation by the Pakistani president and the nation as a whole.
Meanwhile, India, if nothing else, should be grateful to Musharraf for leading Pakistan out of a self-destructive cycle.
India for its own gains in Kashmir is undermining the coalition efforts to stamp out the global war against terrorism. Pakistan, out of default, is a key member due to the nature of the terror network objective and is a target of the militants as well, since they wish to control this pivotal member.
By forcing a confrontation with India they can sell Musharraf short as the man who brought down the Taliban but was unable to repel Indian aggression due to the lack of American support. They will make Musharraf an example within the Islamic world that will term him as the “New Shah,” a friend of America who was betrayed.
The last thing the U.S. wants is this new categorization. America needs trusted allies in the region and the actions of India are not very helpful. India, considering the recent events in Gujarat and Bihar and with a restive Islamic population within its border, should know that it cannot afford a destabilized and radicalized Pakistan.
A stable Pakistan helps a secular India grow stronger and provides calmness on its northern frontier and helps it to concentrate to alleviate the condition of its people. It’s a win-all situation for India and Pakistan.
http://iqballatif.newsvine.com/_news/2007/09/20/973864-bin-laden-tape-to-declare-war-on-musharraf-bin-ladens-ultimate-twin-towers-pakistan-and-saudi-arabia