New Bin Laden Video
On March 19, 2008, a new video with a voiceover attributed to Osama Bin Laden was released on the Internet. The five-minute still-frame video, titled "May Our Mothers Be Bereaved Of Us If We Fail to Help Our Prophet," warns Europe of consequences for the reprinting of a set of controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (originally published in 2005, in the Danish newspaper, Jyllands Posten).
The video says that the "insulting drawings" are more inflammatory than Western military forces targeting Muslim civilians. The most infamous of the Danish cartoons depicts the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb-like turban and a lit fuse, with the Islamic Creed written on the bomb. The video coincided with the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and came the day before the Muslim world marked the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
The voice has not officially been identified as Bin Laden, and controversy continues, as with many videos and audio recordings attributed to the Al Qaeda leader, as to whether the recording is genuine -- and if so, whether it was made recently or created from older tapes. A mention of George W. Bush in this video, describing him as Europe's "oppressive ally who, along with his aggressive policies, is about to depart the White House," suggests that the voiceover is recent.
Fast Facts:
- Suggests the Pope had a role in cartoon publication
- Speaks of the "ethics" of fighting
- No mention of time frame for retaliation
- Says, cryptically, that retaliation will be "what you see, not what you hear"
- Bin Laden is pictured holding an AK-47
Quotes
- Beginning: "In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful, to the intelligent ones in the European Union: peace be open he who follows the guidance and your negligence in spite of the opportunity presented to take the necessary measures to prevent their being repeated."
- "Animosity among people is very old but wise people have always been keen on maintaining the manners of disagreement and the ethics of fighting but you have abandoned many of these ethics although you use them as slogans..."
- "Your publications of these drawings, part of a new crusade in which the Pope of the Vatican had a significant role, is a confirmation from you that the war continues..."
- "The response will be what you see and not what you hear and let our mothers bereave us if we do not make victorious our messenger of God..."
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