Bin Laden, On Tape, Urges Holy War, Over Gaza, Israel Options

[Leslie Landry]

JERUSALEM — Nine Israeli human rights groups called on Wednesday for an investigation into whether Israeli officials had committed war crimes in Gaza since tens of thousands of civilians there have nowhere to flee, the health system has collapsed, many are without electricity and running water, and some are beyond the reach of rescue teams.


“This kind of fighting constitutes a blatant violation of the laws of warfare and raises the suspicion, which we ask be investigated, of the commission of war crimes,” the groups said in their first news conference on the 19-day-old war.

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jakob Kellenberger, who spent Tuesday in Gaza City, agreed that the situation with civilians was dire but said the principal hospital was making do with medical supplies, and doctors, working around the clock, were mostly coping with the flow of injured.

“In general they did not complain about the lack of equipment or material,” he said at separate a news conference in Jerusalem.

As the Gaza death toll passed 1,000, Hamas militants fired off more than a dozen rockets into Israel, including four longer-range ones near the cities of Beersheva and Ashdod, sending a message of menace but causing no injuries. Three rockets were also fired from Lebanon into northern Israel and Israel returned fire to the source.

Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, spoke up from hiding and in a taped audio message called on Muslims everywhere to fight Israel in holy war.

Efforts to reach a cease-fire made progress with some officials predicting a deal could be five to six days away. Hamas leaders met with Egyptian officials in Cairo and agreed in principle to a monitoring force composed of Europeans on Gazan soil to prevent smuggling of weapons, according to a senior Egyptian official. A senior Israeli was due in Cairo on Thursday to discuss the plan.

Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his generals favor a temporary cease-fire of several days to a week — partly so that when Barack Obama is inaugurated as president next week it would be in the middle of a lull rather than battle and his administration could offer views on the next step, Israeli officials said. Mr. Barak has been in close touch with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates who will hold the same position after the inauguration that he holds now.

The short-term cease-fire would, if successful, be followed by a negotiated year-long truce, something which Egypt says Hamas also favors if it includes an opening of commercial traffic into Gaza. There remain, however, splits in Hamas between those who are Syria-based and those in Gaza. The Gazans are more open to a week-long break while the Damascus officials want something from Israel in return for holding fire then.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Cairo early in the day as part of a regional tour to help press for implementation of a Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire. He met with President Hosni Mubarak and then issued a plea for peace.

“I repeat my call for an immediate and durable ceasefire,” he said at a press conference with the Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit. “Hamas rocket attacks must stop and at the same time I have been condemning the excessive military operation by the Israelis.”

The president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, also called for a cease-fire, saying in an interview with the BBC, “The effect of war is more dangerous than war sowing seeds of extremism and terror around the region.”

The Israeli human rights groups that called for an investigation said that while they believed it was legitimate for Israel to bomb military installations, it was a violation of international law for it to hit civilian sites like government buildings that contained no weapons or missiles.

The group included the Israel section of Amnesty International, B’Tselem, Gisha and Physicians for Human Rights — Israel.

Mr. Kellenberger of the Red Cross said Israel had facilitated his trip to Gaza and added that he had seen no evidence of the use of white phosphorous, an obscurant used in military conflicts that can be dangerous for civilians under certain circumstances and that Palestinians say Israel is firing.

Last week, the Red Cross issued an unusually harsh condemnation of Israel for failing to allow its personnel into Gaza to rescue people trapped in battle. On Wednesday, Mr. Kellenberger said that although the situation remains critical, rescue missions had not been entirely shut down. The organization rescued 100 people trapped in Jabalya, north of Gaza City, on Tuesday.

The Red Cross representative in Israel, Pierre Wettach, added that he now believed Israel was trying hard to facilitate his group’s access to the wounded.

“At this stage, they want as far as possible that these things work,” he said, referring to rescue missions.

The military operations continued apace in southern Gaza with the Israeli military reporting that its warplanes carried out three dozen bombing raids, striking rocket launchers and smuggler tunnels. Still, with the cease-fire talks gaining ground and Israeli leaders concerned about sending their troops into the heart of Gaza City, Israel held off on expanding its war to the next phase.

Meanwhile, Egypt found itself dragged into a conflict with Arab states. Egypt had been resisting calls by the small oil-rich Gulf state of Qatar for an emergency meeting of the Arab League.

The call for a meeting in Qatar seemed to be an effort to upstage a meeting already planned for Monday in Kuwait and to give critics of Egyptian and Saudi Arabian mediation efforts a public forum to embarrass and berate them, officials in Cairo said.

The league is supposed to represent the interests of its 22 member states, but many of those states have been openly feuding with each other over the war in Gaza.

“It is a hideous state for the Arabs,” said Mahmoud Shokry, Egypt’s former ambassador to Syria. “The Arabs are split. If we talk about Arabs, we’re talking about 22 countries but do these 22 countries represent one will?

Egypt and Saudi Arabia have taken heat from other Arab countries for pressing Hamas to stop its rocket attacks on Israel and for not doing more to help Hamas. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah are both planning to attend the Kuwait conference which has been organized to discuss economic issues but has been reoriented to deal with the war. The meeting in Qatar, if it is held, would involve only foreign ministers.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/world/mi...rss&emc=rss


To place your vote, Click here:
http://www.israel-vs-palestine.com/gz/

[painter]

Osama bin forgotten rises from his tomb of the forgotten terrorist to call his adherents to Holy Jihad.

What a f*cking joke.

[INP]

A very special note on the Osama bin Laden tape:

Spiegel-Online reports the below, unfortunately or on purpose there is no english text available (yet?)
I search my fingers bloody to find something similar but there seems to be a total media black-out regarding the most interesting and hilarious message on his tape.

So use some translation tool or someone more firm with english does a translation.
The headline reads:

Bin Laden calls world finance crisis a work of the mujahedin

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,601225,00.html

[Carl Bank]

A very special note on the Osama bin Laden tape:

Spiegel-Online reports the below, unfortunately or on purpose there is no english text available (yet?)
I search my fingers bloody to find something similar but there seems to be a total media black-out regarding the most interesting and hilarious message on his tape.

So use some translation tool or someone more firm with english does a translation.
The headline reads:

Bin Laden calls world finance crisis a work of the mujahedin

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,601225,00.html

Absolutely priceless BS-article INP, thanks for your PM!

Germany's Blogger are in outrage again about that shameless propaganda, DER SPIEGEL is spraying around.
I suppose, Spiegel will delte this article in the next future, it is too stupid. Even the people in the SPIEGEL ONLINE FORUM
are all over it. Every time I read this two assholes Yassin Musharbash or Hernrik M. Broder mentioned as authors,
I know it is extreme-propaganda against the muslim world, but this time they'd taken it way too far.

Here is the article for Babelfisch, in case it goes down the well the next days.
Translate it! This is absolutely rediculouse!

Bin Laden nennt Weltfinanzkrise ein Werk der Mudschahidin

Von Yassin Musharbash

Ein Aufruf zum Dschihad gegen Israel - und dann eine verblüffende Behauptung:
Die globale Finanzkrise gehe auf das Konto von al-Qaida und Co., sagt Osama Bin Laden in einer neuen Audiobotschaft.
Sie werde noch viel schlimmer werden - Kronzeuge dafür sei nicht zuletzt der "deutsche Finanzminister".

Berlin - Der Chef des Terrornetzwerks al-Qaida, Osama Bin Laden, nutzt gerne aktuelle Krisen und Ereignisse,
um seine zunehmend seltenen Ansprachen abzusetzen. Am Mittwoch ergriff er wieder einmal die Gelegenheit:
In einem 22 Minuten langen Tonband macht er den blutigen Gaza-Konflikt und die Weltwirtschaftskrise zum Thema
und ruft zum Dschihad gegen "das zionistische Gebilde" auf.

(IMG:http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1404693,00.jpg)
Standbild zur Bin-Laden-Rede: "Pflicht zum Dschihad"

Das Band wurde am späten Vormittag auf mindestens zwei arabischen Web-Seiten veröffentlicht, die al-Qaida und verwandte Organisationen
seit Monaten zur Verbreitung ihrer Propaganda nutzen. Es liegt SPIEGEL ONLINE vor.

Veröffentlichungsmodus und das eingeprägte Logo der Qaida-Produktionsfirma al-Sahab sprechen für die Authentizität der Aufnahme,
die Stimme des Sprechers klingt der Bin Ladens zumindest sehr ähnlich. Eine unabhängige Bestätigung der Echtheit gibt es freilich nicht.
Es trägt den Titel "Aufruf zum Dschihad, um die Aggressionen gegen Gaza zu stoppen". Das Band ist auf den aktuellen Monat der islamischen
Zeitrechnung datiert.

Die zentrale Botschaft des seit Jahren im Versteck lebenden Terrorchefs ist ein Aufruf an alle Muslime, angesichts des Vorgehens Israels im
Gaza-Streifen gegen das "zionistische Gebilde" in den Kampf zu ziehen. Diplomatie, so der Saudi-Araber, sei nur eine Möglichkeit der
verräterischen Führer der Araber und Muslime, "vor der Verantwortung zu fliehen".

Bin Laden: Pflicht zum Dschihad

"Das Verhalten dieser Gelehrten und Führer entbindet euch aber nicht von eurer Verantwortung", so der Qaida-Chef weiter an die Adresse
der "Gemeinschaft der Muslime". Sein Dschihad-Aufruf gipfelt in der Behauptung: "Ihr könnt das zionistische Gebilde besiegen".
Als historisches Beispiel nennt er die Niederlage der Sowjetunion in Afghanistan, der auch ohne Einmischung einer staatlichen Armee
bewerkstelligt worden sei.

An die Adresse der Palästinenser gerichtet sagt Bin Laden: "Ihr habt viel gelitten ... Die Muslime fühlen mit euch, die Mudschahidin fühlen
mit euch, denn sie leben euer Leben."

Es ist nicht der erste Versuche Bin Ladens oder seines Stellvertreters Aiman al-Sawahiri, den Palästina-Konflikt für ihre Propaganda zu
nutzen und die Palästinenser auf ihre Seite zu ziehen. Dass sich bislang verhältnismäßig wenige Palästinenser al-Qaida angeschlossen haben,
wurde in dem Terrornetzwerk schon vor Jahren thematisiert - und als Problem eingestuft. Mehrmals versuchte al-Qaida auch, die Hamas zum
"globalen Dschihad" aufzufordern. Aber jedes Mal konterten zum Teil hochrangige Hamas-Mitglieder diese Vereinnahmungsversuche mit der
Bemerkung, sie kämpften einen anderen, einen eigenen Kampf.

Als die Hamas 2006 an den palästinensischen Parlamentswahlen teilnahm, begann al-Qaida sie dafür zu kritisieren, weil sie Wahlen für
unislamisch hält. Insbesondere Sawahiri hat die Hamas dafür angefeindet; in der Rede, die er am Mittwoch veröffentlichte, erwähnt Osama
Bin Laden die Islamisten-Organisation nicht einmal.

Ausführungen über die Weltwirtschaftskrise

Dafür lässt er sich etwa eben so lang wie über den Gaza-Konflikt über die Weltfinanzkrise aus. Einer seiner Thesen lautet, dass diese noch
viel schlimmer sei als derzeit erkennbar. Als Kronzeugen zählt er verschiedene europäische und US-amerikanische Minister und Präsidenten
auf, unter anderem erwähnt er auch "den deutschen Finanzminister", allerdings ohne Peer Steinbrück namentlich zu nennen.
Der deutsche Finanzminister, so der Qaida-Gründer, habe erklärt, nichts werde je wieder so sein wie vor der Krise.
Bin Ladens zweite These ist, dass diese Wirtschaftskrise das Resultat der Anstrengungen der Mudschahidin sei.

Am interessantesten an diesen Äußerungen ist vermutlich, dass sie zeigen, wie gut informiert der seit 2001 im Versteck lebende
Terrorchef ist.

Die "Flagge des Dschihad", so Bin Laden weiter, werde unterdessen wehen "bis zum jüngsten Tag". Es stelle sich allerdings die Frage,
ob die USA in der Lage seien, sich noch weitere Jahrzehnte dagegen zu wehren. "Berichte und Belege deuten etwas anderes an",
tönt der Saudi-Araber, den die meisten Analysten und Terrorexperten im afghanisch-pakistanischen Grenzgebiet vermuten.

Aiman al-Sawahiri und Osama Bin Laden, über deren Tod regelmäßig spekuliert wird, haben sich seit den Terroranschlägen vom
11. September 2001 in den USA zusammen mehr als 60-mal zu Wort gemeldet, manchmal per Video, zumeist in Tonbotschaften.
Oft haben sie sich dabei schon des Palästina-Konflikts angenommen. Erst in der vergangenen Woche rief der Ägypter Sawahiri wegen
des Gaza-Krieges zu weltweiten Anschlägen auf.

Erste Reaktionen in Internet-Foren

Wie weit der Einfluss Bin Laden reicht, ist unter Experten eine viel diskutierte Frage, über die es keine letzte Einigkeit gibt.
Die meisten sind der Ansicht, dass die von seinen Sympathisanten als Lebenszeichen gewerteten Äußerungen in dieser Funktion mindestens
ebenso wichtig sind wie inhaltlich.

Darüber hinaus gilt Osama Bin Laden nicht mehr als der Mann, der die Fäden für jeden einzelnen Anschlag in den Händen hält - sein Leben
im Verborgenen dürfte das verhindern. Wohl wird ihm aber zugetraut, durch seine Ansprachen eine generelle Linie vorzugeben, an denen
sich operative Kader und Freiwillige gleichermaßen orientieren.

Die ersten Reaktionen auf die Rede in islamistischen Internet-Foren war wie gewohnt: ein vielstimmiger Chor von Lob und Preis;
inhaltlich interessante Kommentare gibt es aber noch nicht.

[JFK]

Page translated courtesy of Google -

http://66.102.1.102/translate_c?hl=en&...nvT8ck2rV_4wLEQ

[Carl Bank]

what kinda post didya expect from: Carl ?

[Johnny Angel]

You will see Osama Bin Laden soon...Osama Been Captured.. should of stayed in his Cave..

George W BUSH has a few days left to track him down, Going into History as Dubya Hero.

[dMz]

You will see Osama Bin Laden soon...Osama Been Captured.. should of stayed in his Cave..

George W BUSH has a few days left to track him down, Going into History as Dubya Hero.

Sadly, that wouldn't surprise me- UBL freshly-suntanned from Camp Nip/Tuck GITMO... (IMG:http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) (IMG:http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/style_emoticons/default/wall.gif)

EDIT: A quick review...

Top 9/11 Suspects To Plead Guilty
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=15709

Spain: Son Of Bin Laden Is Seeking Asylum
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=15454

Cia Operative: Bin Laden Is Dead
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=15154

Elite Officer Recalls Hunt For Bin Laden, Says The Best Plan To Kill The Al Qaeda Leader In 2001 Was Nixed
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=15067

Cia: Bin Laden Doesn't Oversee Day-to-day Al Qaeda Operations
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=14705

No Consensus On Who Was Behind Sept 11, global poll -- REUTERS
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=14560

9/11 Rumors That Become Conventional Wisdom, Goddamn you conspiracy theorists Part 3 - Ny times
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=14529
duplicated?
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=14528

Cia, Fbi Push 'facebook For Spies"
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=14473

Georgia... Russia/us/israel 'proxy' War Has Begun, This could be prelude to large regional conflict, including Iran
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=14147

Bin Ladens Allowed Out Of U.s. After 9-11, Former White House official confirms operation said to be rumor
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=14135

Bin Laden Driver Said To Have Known 9/11 Target, "If they hadn't shot down the fourth plane..."
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=13956

Bin Ladin Driver Faces Trial
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=13898

Israel Creates Af Branch To Bomb Russia, Er, I Mean, Iran
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=13401

Bin Laden Marks Israel Anniversary With Combat Vow
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=12491

U.s. Drops Charges Against '20th Hijacker'
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=12432

From Chief Prosecutor To Critic At Guantanamo, Witness was pressured to bring cases before election
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=12195

Omar Bin Laden: Did They Make A “copy” Of My Father?
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=12039

Al Qaeda Deputy Leader Chief Slams Muslims For Lack Of Support
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=12075

Lawyer Says Bin Laden Did Not Orchestrate 9/11 During Terror Trial
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=11126

NY Times Holds Stories Because They're Afraid of Conservatives
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=10960

Radio Interview - CIA Michael Scheuer, Binladin Expert, Binladin Expert: Only Ron Paul Gets It
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=10914

Six Charged With 9/11 Murders:, Why Now? And What About the Torture?
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=10852

Military Prosecutors Preparing The First 9/11 Case, 6 at Guantánamo Face Trial
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=10805

Is Osama Bin Ladin Dying... Again?
http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum//index....showtopic=13770

OK- that takes you back about one year and 2 of 8 search pages as far as this forum anyway.
--------------------------------------
Here is my personal favorite source though:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41576,00.html

"Wednesday, December 26, 2001

Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.

"The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead," the source said.

Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.

About 30 close associates of bin Laden in Al Qaeda, including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his family members and some "Taliban friends," attended the funeral rites. A volley of bullets was also fired to pay final tribute to the "great leader."

The Taliban source who claims to have seen bin Laden's face before burial said "he looked pale ... but calm, relaxed and confident."

[datars]

Osama bin forgotten rises from his tomb of the forgotten terrorist to call his adherents to Holy Jihad.

What a f*cking joke.

Yep!

[Ricochet]

As always American public opinion is shaped by negetive reinforcement. Bin laden (dead man talking), backs Palestinian cause. This was the last time Bush & co had a chance to wave the dead guy at the masses to sway public opinion that benifits their agenda. It will be interesting to see if B.O. continues this charade. Go to the DHS website and they have a really bad cut and paste photo of OBL overlayed against a rugged mountain background giving the impression of "hiding in caves" story. Pure propaganda, they finished with a bang like the end of a fireworks display with the "black plague" story 40 al qaeda die of plague after experimenting with germs (remember Sadaam's germ trailers?). Buried in the forest (by whom?). No pictues, no evidence only stories.

[silkworm]

Osama bin forgotten rises from his tomb of the forgotten terrorist to call his adherents to Holy Jihad.

What a f*cking joke.

I will go with painter, Osama is long been dead!!!

[Nunyabiz]

Yep Bin Laden has been dead since Dec 2001.

[lunk]

Yep Bin Laden has been dead since Dec 2001.

Or he was just an actor, and he is now playing another character,
on the world stage.