On July 8, 2006, a film marking the first anniversary of the July 7, 2005 bombings of the London transit system was posted on tajdeed.net.tc. The film opens with BBC news footage from the day of the bombings in London, and then cuts to an excerpt from a video message in English by Shehzad Tanweer, one of the bombers. In the film, sections of this message are interspersed with commentary by Al-Qaeda deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri on Tanweer and with narration and dramatization of Tanweer's role in the bombings, of preparations for the attack and of fighters celebrating at news of the bombings. The film also included statements by American Al-Qaeda operative Adam Gadahn, also known as "Azzam the American."
TO VIEW THIS CLIP, VISIT: http://memritv.org/clip/en/1186.htm.
Titles: "Al-Sahab for Media Production"
"The Final Message of the Knights of the London Raid"
[BBC news footage from July 7, 2005].
Shehzad Tanweer (in English): "To the non-Muslims of Britain: You may wonder what you have done to deserve this. You are those who have voted in your government, who in turn have, and still continue to this day, continue to oppress our mothers, children, brothers and sisters, from the east to the west, in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Chechnya. Your government has openly supported the genocide of over 150,000 innocent Muslims in Falluja."
[...]
"You have offered financial and military support to the U.S. and Israel, in the massacre of our children in Palestine. You are directly responsible for the problems in Palestine, Afghanistan, and Iraq to this day. You have openly declared war on Islam, and are the forerunners in the crusade against the Muslims."
[...]
Ayman Al-Zawahiri: "What made Shehzad join the camps of Qaeda Al-Jihad was the oppression carried out by the British in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine. He would often talk about Palestine, about the British support of the Jews, and about their clear injustice against the Muslims."
[...]
Voiceover [against backdrop of footage of preparation of explosives and planning of bomb attack]: "In order to remove this injustice, Shehzad began training with all his might and devotion. Together with the martyr Siddiq Khan, he received practical and intensive training in how to produce and use explosives, in the camps of Qaeda Al-Jihad. The recruits who join these camps do not have to achieve high averages or to pass entrance exams. All they need is to be zealous for their religion and nation, and to love Jihad and martyrdom for the sake of Allah."
[...]
Shehzad Tanweer: "We are 100% committed to the cause of Islam. We love death the way you love life. I tell all you British citizens to stop your support to your lying British government, and to the so-called 'war on terror,' and ask yourselves, why would thousands of men be willing to give their lives for the cause of Muslims? Allah, in Surat Al-Nisa, says: 'What is wrong with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah, and for those weak, ill, cheated, and oppressed, among men, women, and children, whose cry is: 'Our Lord, rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors, and raise for us from among you one who will protect, and raise for us from you one who will help.'"
[...]
Ayman Al-Zawahiri: "That is why Shehzad joined the camps of Qaeda Al-Jihad, where he spent some time, along with Muhammad Al-Siddiq. Both of them were striving for martyrdom, and were hoping to carry out a martyrdom operation. Both of them were very resolute in this. If the brothers discussed some other issue, they would not pay any attention, because their goal, for which they came to the camps of Qaeda Al-Jihad, was to carry out a martyrdom operation. They were bonded by a great love, for the sake of Allah. Together, they formed a great team, even though each excelled at different things."
Voiceover [against backdrop of footage of 9/11 and explosions]: "The love of martyrdom for the sake of Allah was not motivated by poverty, unemployment, and emptiness, as some mercenary media outlets try to portray to us. It was motivated by the love of Allah and His messenger. A person who is about to carry out this act has complete conviction that this act of his is one of the best acts in the eyes of Allah.
"Whoever looks at the life of the martyr Shehzad can see this with absolute clarity."
Ayman Al-Zawahiri: "Shehzad Tanweer, Allah's mercy upon him, was well read, loved sports, and kept physically fit, and that is why he studied physical education at university. He had a passion for boxing. Even though his family was well off, his clothes and look did not disclose this. Allah's mercy upon him, he used to pray all night long, and loved reading the Koran. While his brothers spent their time reading the Hadith, he would spend his time reading the Koran. He would contemplate what he read in the Koran, and often he would stop at a specific verse and say to his brothers: 'Look, this is exactly what is happening today.'"
[...]
Shehzad Tanweer: "Oh Muslims of Britain, you, day in and day out on your TV sets, watch and hear about the oppression of the Muslims, from the east to the west. But yet you turn a blind eye, and carry on with your lives as if you never heard anything, or as if it does not concern you. What is the matter with you that you turn back not to the religion that Allah has chosen for you? You have preferred the dunya to Allah, His messenger, and the Hereafter. As Allah, in the Surat Al-Touba, says: 'Say, if your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your kindred, the wealth that you've gained, the commerce in which you fear decline, and the dwellings in which you delight, are dearer to you than Allah, and His messenger, and striving hard in fighting His cause, then wait until Allah brings about His decision, His torment, and Allah guides not those people who are fasiqun,' who are rebellious, disobedient to Allah. Your duty is to Allah, to His messenger, and to those who are weak and oppressed. As Allah says, in Surat Al-Touba: 'Oh you who believe, what is the matter with you, that when you are asked to march forth in His cause, you cling heavily to the earth. Are you pleased with the life of this world rather than the Hereafter? But little is the enjoyment of this world as compared to the Hereafter.'
"Oh Muslims of Britain, stand up and be counted. You are those who Allah has honored with Islam, and know that if you turn back from your religion, Allah has no need for you. As Allah, in Surat Al-Maida, says: 'Oh you who believe, whoever from amongst you turns back from his religion, Allah will bring a people whom He will love, and they will love Him. Humble towards the believers, stern towards the disbelievers, fighting in the cause of Allah, never fear the blame of the blamers, that is the grace of Allah, which He bestows upon whom He wills, and Allah is All-sufficient for His creatures' needs.'
"Fight against the disbelievers, for it is but an obligation made on you by Allah. As Allah, in Surat Al-Baqra, says: 'Fighting was ordained for you, though you dislike it. It may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and you like a thing which is bad for you. And Allah knows, but you do not know.'"
[...]
Voiceover [against backdrop of dramatization of planning of operation]: "The knights of London continued to train and plan the operation. They determined the targets with precision. The names of the station that were targeted have significance, both symbolically and in terms of morale, for the Crusader West. When the training and preparations were completed, the knights left for the scene of the operations."
[...]
Ayman Al-Zawahiri: "May Allah have mercy upon them, they returned to Britain, where they passed on what they had learned to the rest of the brothers. They planned their successful strikes, which sent Britain into a spin, although the battle is still in its beginning stages, and the brigades of free heroes race to commit martyrdom and respond to the aggression of the Crusaders."
[...]
Voiceover [against backdrop of footage of jubilant fighters shooting into the air in celebration as they listen to news in English]: "The operation was carried out, with the grace of Allah, and the knights of the London raid made a volcano of Islamic rage erupt in the heart of the capital of the cross. Some began to doubt the ability of the mujahideen to carry out such a great act. But those people have pretended to forget the words of Allah: 'How many times has a small group overcome a large group, with the help of Allah. Allah is with those who persevere.' The mujahideen received the news about the raid with jubilant cries of 'Allah Akbar' and by bowing to Allah in gratitude.
"As always, the media of the aggressive enemy and its collaborators began to say that those targeted were innocent civilians."
Adam Gadahn, aka "Azzam the American" (in English): "It's crucial for Muslims to keep in mind that the Americans, the British, and the other members of the coalition of terror have intentionally targeted Muslim civilians and civilian targets, both before, as well as after September 11. In both the first and second Iraq wars, as well as in their forays into Somalia, the Sudan, and Afghanistan, just to give you a few examples. And they've done this with the support and backing of their populations and electorates. I mean, even if there have been some feeble protests scattered here and there in the West, chiefly against the latest war in Iraq. All the same, the governments which started these wars have been reelected by the majority of the popular vote.
"And their aggression against Afghanistan, which for Westerners and their mercenary sympathizers, is the least controversial of Bush and Blair's terrorist wars. They have targeted civilians for assassination and kidnapping. They kidnapped any non-Afghans they found, and shipped them off to Guantanamo or worse. Many were handed over to the American and British-backed despotic regimes of the Islamic world, to be brutally interrogated. And with the blessing and support of that notorious Afghan-killer Hamid Karzai, they've murdered thousands of Afghan civilians as they slept in their beds, traveled on the roads, attended weddings, and prayed at the mosques. I know they've killed and maimed civilians in their strikes because I've seen it with my own eyes. My brothers have seen it. I've carried the victims in my arms, women, children, toddlers, babies in their mothers' wombs. You name it, they've probably bombed it. I could go on and on - and that's just Afghanistan. We haven't talked about American and British atrocities in the two Iraq wars. Let's take a look at the latest to be revealed. In Mahmudiya, five American soldiers gang-rape an Iraqi woman, and then, to hide the evidence, murder her and three members of her family, and burn her body. Then, when our mujahideen take revenge on the unit which committed this outrage, and capture and execute two of its members, they're called terrorists, and Muslims are supposed to disown them or face the consequences.
"And where is Britain in all of this? Coaching from the sidelines, and lending a helping hand whenever possible. I'd like to remind those who ludicrously claim that Britain treats Muslims better than America, that Britain is the one who taught America how to kill and oppress Muslims in the first place, by drawing on experience gained during hundreds of years of blood-soaked colonialist history. And lest you forget, Britain is today, besides prosecuting its occupation of southern Iraq, is the one heading the NATO occupation of Afghanistan, and relieving the bloodied and bruised Americans in the south and east of the country. And we haven't mentioned the fact that these actions of the Americans and British are prohibited by the same international laws and treaties, which they hypocritically claim to uphold and protect, and which they impose on others, even as they themselves violate them with impunity. And nor have we mentioned their unconditional support for the butchery and terrorism of their dear friend and ally, Israel, which I imagine everyone knows about.
"So after all the atrocities committed by America and Britain and their allies, which constitute terrorism in every sense of the word, you want us to observe restraint and civility in our response, or better yet - not respond at all? You want us to target their soldiers and tanks only, which as we've seen, still makes us terrorists in our eyes. And why should we target their military only - because to do otherwise would violate the precepts of that idol, that false god called international law, which we've conclusively shown, they themselves violate? No thanks, we have our own law, the law of God, who says in His book: 'And if you punish, let your punishment be proportionate to the wrong that has been done to you.' And we have the Sunna, the example of our Prophet, peace be open him, who erected catapults against the people of Qaif, despite the presence of women, children, and non-combatants among them, and who excused the inadvertent killing of the unbelievers' women and children in night raids.
"I'm not saying that we should go and slaughter their women and children one by one, like they did ours, at Haditha, and Ishaqi, and Mahmudiya, and God knows where else, even if some of our legal experts have permitted that, and even if it is hard to imagine that any compassionate person could see pictures, just pictures, of what the Crusaders did to those children, and not want to go on a shooting spree at the Marines' housing facilities at Camp Pendleton. But what I am saying is that when we bomb their cities and civilians, like they bomb ours, or destroy their infrastructure and means of transportation, like they destroy ours, or kidnap their non-combatants, like they kidnap ours, no sane Muslim should shed tears for them. And they should blame no one but themselves, because they're the ones who started this dirty war, and they're the ones who will end it, by ending their aggression against Islam and Muslims, by pulling out of our region, and by keeping their hands our of our affairs. And until and unless they do that, neither Forest Gate-style police raids nor Belmarsh or Guantanamo prison cells, nor the mosques and imams of the advisory council, will be able to prevent the Muslims from exacting revenge on behalf of their persecuted brothers and sisters."
Shehzad Tanweer: "What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a series of attacks, which, inshallah, will intensify and continue, until you pull all your troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq, until you stop all financial and military support to the U.S. and Israel, and until you release all Muslim prisoners from Belmarsh, and your other concentration camps. And know that if you fail to comply with this, then know that this war will never stop, and that we are ready to give our lives, one hundred times over, for the cause of Islam. You will never experience peace, until our children in Palestine, our mothers and sisters in Kashmir, and our brothers in Afghanistan and Iraq feel peace."
[...]
"Oh Muslims of Britain and the world, the dunya is just a fleeting enjoyment, and unto Allah will be your return. Obey Allah and His messenger, if you are indeed believers. Fight against the oppressors, the oppressive British regime. And you, the oppressive kuffar forces, that amass their forces against the Muslims in order to annihilate them - As Allah says, in Surat Al-Nisa: 'Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the cause of Satan. So fight you against the friends of Satan. Ever feeble indeed is the plot of Satan.' So fight. Fight against the enemies of Allah.
"Our blood flows across the earth. Muslim blood has become cheap. Where are those who will avenge the blood of our children in Palestine, and the rapes and massacres of our sisters in Kashmir? As for those of you who have been affected by this reminder, give your lives for Allah's cause, for, in truth, this is the best transaction, as Allah, in Surat Al-Touba, says: 'Verily, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives, and their property, for the price that hey shall be in Paradise. They fight in Allah's cause, so they kill and are killed. It is a promise in truth, which is binding on Him, in the Torah, in the Injil, and in the Koran. And who is truer to his promise than Allah? Then rejoice in the bargain which you have concluded. That is the supreme success.'
"We ask Allah to protect Sheikh Osama, and those who are close to him, and those who are fighting in Allah's cause across the earth. We ask Allah to lift the oppression of the Muslims, and to hasten the release of the Muslim prisoners, and scholars across the earth. We ask Allah to protect Sheikh Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, and those who are with him, and grant a near victory in Iraq. Oh Allah, grant us martyrdom in Your cause, and accept us among the righteous on the day we shall return to You."
