On Friday June 17, 2005, Al-Jazeera TV released a tape of an address by Al-Qa'ida deputy leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. To view this clip, see http://memritv.org/clip/en/717.htm.
The following are excerpts from the speech as well as from other addresses by Al-Zawahiri aired by Al-Jazeera:
Al-Zawahiri, June 17, 2005
The following are excerpts from Al-Zawahiri's most recent tape, shown on Al-Jazeera:
Al-Zawahiri: "True reform is based on three principles:
"The first principle is the rule of Shari'a [Islamic law], because Shari'a, which was given by God, protects the believers' interests, freedom, honor, and pride, and protects what is sacred to them. The Islamic nation will not accept any other law, after it has suffered from the anti-Islamic trends forcefully imposed on it.
"The second principle of reform is the freedom of the lands of Islam. No reform is conceivable while our countries are occupied by the Crusader forces, which are spread throughout our countries. No reform is conceivable while the Crusader forces are stationed in our countries [where they] enjoy support, supplies, and storage facilities, and go forth from our countries to attack our brothers and sisters in other Islamic countries. No reform is conceivable while our governments are controlled by the American embassies, which stick their noses into all our affairs.
"The third principle of reform is the Muslim nation's freedom to run its own affairs. This [principle of] reform will only be realized in two ways. First, freedom of the independent religious judicial system, the implementation of its rulings, and the guaranteeing of its honor, authority, and strength. Second, the freedom and the right of the Islamic nation to implement the principle of 'promoting virtue and preventing vice.'
"I would also like to stress that the expulsion of the invading Crusader and Jews from the lands of Islam will not be accomplished merely through demonstrations and hoarse throats in the streets. Reform and expelling the invaders from the lands of Islam will only be accomplished by fighting for the sake of Allah.
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"Allah said: 'Fight them until all strife ceases and religion is professed for the pleasure of Allah alone.' He also said: 'Fight them, and Allah will punish them at your hands and will humiliate them, and will help you to overcome them, and will relieve the minds of the believers.'
"I salute my brothers, the lions of Islam, who are on the holy front of Islam around Jerusalem. I call upon them in the name of Allah not to abandon their Jihad, not to throw down their weapons, not to believe the counsel of the collaborators, not to forget the lessons of history, not to trust the secularists who have sold Palestine cheaply, and not to be drawn into the secular game of elections in accordance with a secular constitution."
Al-Zawahiri, November 29, 2004
The following are excerpts from a November 29, 2004 video on Al-Jazeera TV. To view this clip, go to http://memritv.org/clip/en/388.htm.
Al-Zawahiri: "These days, the U.S. is playing the election game in America, Afghanistan, and Iraq. As for the US elections, the two candidates compete over placating Israel. That is, they compete over the crime against the Muslim nation that has been going on in Palestine for 87 years. This proves that there is no solution with America except to forcefully make it submit to justice.
"Ahmad Shawqi said: 'If you counter evil with goodness you cannot defeat it, [but] when you counter evil with evil, it will be cut off.' We say to the American nation: 'Elect whoever you want, Bush, Kerry, or Satan himself.' We don't care. We care about purifying our country of the aggressors and resisting anyone who attacks us, violates our holy places, or steals our resources.
"Here is a piece of advice for America that I must offer, even though I know they won't listen: You must choose one of two paths in your treatment of the Muslims. Either you treat them with dignity and [based on] mutual interests, or you treat them as fair game in war, as land to be stolen, and as holy places to be desecrated. This is your problem, and you must make your own choice. You must know that we are a nation of endurance and perseverance, and, Allah willing, we will remain steadfast fighting you until Judgment Day.
"In order to be a nation graced with endurance and perseverance, we must understand a number of important facts: The first is that the fall of Baghdad is, in fact, the fall of all the regimes that relinquished Jihad and assisted the invasion of Iraq. Even those that did not fall publicly fell long ago, with no noise, clatter of guns,, or bombardment. Those not captured by the Crusading forces today are expected to become their targets tomorrow.
"The second fact is that Baghdad was not occupied on April 9, 2003 – it fell long before. It fell when Khedive Tawfiq sought the help of the British to restore him to the throne of Egypt in exchange for Egypt's occupation; when Sharif Hussein agreed with the British on a rebellion against the country of the Caliphate [the Ottoman Empire]; or when 'Abd Al-'Aziz Aal Sa'ud agreed to be under American protection… British authority and later American; and when the Arabs accepted the armistice agreement [with Israel] in 1949. Afterwards, the Arabs continued to deteriorate from one agreement to the other, until Oslo and the Quartet's 'road map.' "
Al-Zawahiri, September 9, 2004
The following are excerpts from a September 9, 2004 video on Al-Jazeera TV. To view this clip, go to http://memritv.org/clip/en/250.htm.
Al-Zawahiri: "Eastern and southern Afghanistan are now a field that is entirely open for the Mujahideen. The hypocrites have cloistered themselves within the districts' capitals, and the Americans are hiding in their trenches and refuse to come out to face the Mujahideen even though the Mujahideen provoke them by shelling and shooting, and by cutting off the roads around them.
"Their defense focuses on aerial bombardment that wastes U.S. money and creates only dust.
"In Kabul, the Americans and the peacekeeping forces are burned by the shells of the Mujahideen, and they anticipate martyrdom operations at any time, Allah willing.
"In Muslim Iraq, the Mujahideen have foiled U.S. plans, after the feebleness of the interim government was exposed. America's [ultimate] defeat in Iraq and in Afghanistan has, Allah willing, become a question of time.
"In both countries, the Americans are trapped between two conflagrations. If they stay, they will bleed to death, and if they retreat, they will lose everything."
