Real History and The Index to the Traditional Enemies of Free Speech Alphabetical index (text) October 31, 2004 Video of Osama bin Laden, the full text. Praise be to God. Praise be to God who created creation for His worship and commanded them to do justice and permitted those who are wronged to exact retribution in like measure as they have been treated. TO continue, Peace be upon those who follow guidance.
OH American people, my talk to you is about the best way to avoid another Manhattan, about the war, its causes, and results. I preface my remarks by saying that security is an important pillar of human life. Free people do not relinquish their security. This is contrary to Bush’s claim that we hate freedom. Let him tell us why we did not strike Sweden, for example.
It is known that those who hate freedom do not have proud souls, like the souls of the 19 people [ killed while carrying out the September 11, 2001 attacks ], may God have mercy on them. We fought you precisely because we are free and cannot tolerate injustice. We want to restore freedom to our nation. So just as you waste our security, we will waste your security. Eric Mueller comments: A COUPLE weeks back al-Jazeera broadcast excerpts of a video tape by Osama bin Laden .
Apparently the US didn’t want any of that tape broadcast at the time (particularly before the US elections), but in the end Washington allowed al-Jazeera to show parts of it. The BBC then did a decent translation of those excerpts as broadcast. But today some Islamicist site (that I have not seen) has apparently got hold of the full tape and broadcast it, and another Islamic news site posted a full Arabic transcript of Osama bin Laden’s complete message.
Since I doubt that the BBC will go back and do a full version of that translation, I’ve gone ahead and done it in the interest of a free flow of information. The Arabic website where I obtained this wondered whether its full publication before the US election would have made any difference. Personally I doubt it, since the American electorate knows nothing about the outside world and cares even less.
But the US is a country that thinks nothing of imposing leaders and constitutions on other peoples at gunpoint. It’s therefore amazing that Washington would invoke “non-interference” on al-Jazeera to prevent Americans from hearing opinions from abroad, lest they disturb cherished delusions, or horror of horrors, prod some citizen into thinking before he or she votes. Arabist Eric Mueller of Plano, Texas, is this website’s expert on Middle Eastern affairs.
Only a stupid thief can imagine that he can infringe upon the security of others and then remain secure himself. When misfortunes befall intelligent people, one of their most important responses will be to seek out the causes so that they might avoid such things. But I am amazed at you. For although almost four years have passed since the September 11 events, Bush is still practicing distortion and confusion upon you, concealing from you the real reason [ for the September 11 attacks ].
Thus, the motives still exist for a repeat of what happened. I will speak to you about the reasons behind these incidents. I will honestly tell you about the minutes in which the decision was made so that you may consider. I say to you that God knows that the idea of striking the towers never occurred to us. But, after things had gone too far and we saw the injustice and tyranny of the US-“Israeli” alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, I started thinking of that.
The events that influenced me directly trace