‘Bin Laden tape’ warns of attacks
Arabic TV station al-Jazeera has broadcast an audio tape it says is by the al-Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden.
In it, the speaker says new attacks on the US are being planned, but offers a “long-term truce” to the Americans.
CIA analysts have concluded the voice on the tape was that of Bin Laden, making it the first time he has been heard from since December 2004.
However, other analysts familiar with Bin Laden’s voice are divided as to whether the voice really is his.
The US quickly rejected the truce offer made on the tape.
“We do not negotiate with terrorists. We put them out of business,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
The speaker on the tape said the reason there had not been an attack in the US since 11 September 2001 was not because of superior US security, but because the group had been engaged in activities in Iraq – and because operations in the US “need preparations”.
“The operations are happening in Baghdad and you will see them here at home the minute they are through (with preparations), with God’s permission,” he said.
US officials have said they believe Bin Laden hiding in a mountainous area on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
There is no clear indication of when the tape was recorded.
Last month, al-Jazeera aired a videotape it said dated back to September, showing al-Qaeda’s deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
In it, Zawahiri declared that, despite a prolonged absence and rumours about ill-health or possible injury, Bin Laden was alive.
Truce offer
Despite the warning of renewed attacks, the speaker also offered the US the chance of a long-term truce in light of the fact that US public opinion polls showed growing opposition to the war in Iraq.
“We have no objection to responding to this with a long-term truce based on fair conditions,” the speaker said.
“We do not mind offering you a truce that is fair and long-term… so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan… there is no shame in this solution because it prevents wasting of billions of dollars.
“Your president is misinterpreting public opinion polls which show that the vast majority of you support the withdrawal of your forces from Iraq.”
Bin Laden made Europe a similar truce offer following the Madrid train bombings of March 2004.
Correspondents say it is an attempt to frighten the public and drive a wedge between them and their governments, which say it is necessary to stay to distance in Iraq, not pull out troops.
The BBC’s Justin Webb in Washington says that in the US the immediate political effect of the tape will probably be to boost support for President George W Bush.
now i have no idea whether this is a “for-real” recording of bin laden or not, but the transcript of the tape sounds like a person who is more reasonable than we’ve been lead to believe. that it’s fabricated is extremely likely, especially considering that there was news that the immediate response to this was to say that we should reinstate the “patriot” act… we’ll just have to wait and see whether bush is lying again… 8/
Bin-Laden tape
My message to you is about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the way to end it.
I had not intended to speak to you about this issue, because, for us, this issue is already decided on: diamonds cut diamonds.
Praise be to God, our conditions are always improving and becoming better, while your conditions are to the contrary of this.
However, what prompted me to speak are the repeated fallacies of your President Bush in his comment on the outcome of the US opinion polls, which indicated that the overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of the forces from Iraq, but he objected to this desire and said that the withdrawal of troops would send a wrong message to the enemy.
Bush said: It is better to fight them on their ground than they fighting us on our ground.
In my response to these fallacies, I say: The war in Iraq is raging, and the operations in Afghanistan are on the rise in our favour, praise be to God.
The Pentagon figures indicate the rise in the number of your dead and wounded, let alone the huge material losses, and let alone the collapse of the morale of the soldiers there and the increase in the suicide cases among them.
So, just imagine the state of psychological breakdown that afflicts the soldier while collecting the remnants of his comrades’ dead bodies after they hit mines, which torn them. Following such situation, the soldier becomes between two fires. If he refuses to go out of his military barracks for patrols, he will face the penalties of the Vietnam butcher, and if he goes out, he will face the danger of mines.
So, he is between two bitter situations, something which puts him under psychological pressure – fear, humiliation, and coercion. Moreover, his people are careless about him. So, he has no choice but to commit suicide.
What you hear about him and his suicide is a strong message to you, which he wrote with his blood and soul while pain and bitterness eat him up so that you would save what you can save from this hell. However, the solution is in your hand if you care about them.
The news of our brother mujahideen, however, is different from what is published by the Pentagon.
This news indicates that what is carried by the news media does not exceed what is actually taking place on the ground. What increases doubts on the information of the White House’s administration is its targeting of the news media, which carry some facts about the real situation.
Documents have recently showed that the butcher of freedom in the world [US President Bush] had planned to bomb the head office of al-Jazeera Space Channel in the state of Qatar after he bombed its offices in Kabul and Baghdad, although despite its defects, it is [Al-Jazeera] one of your creations.
Jihad is continuing, praise be to God, despite all the repressive measures the US army and its agents take to the point where there is no significant difference between these crimes and those of Saddam.
These crimes include the raping of women and taking them hostage instead of their husbands. There is no power but in God.
The torturing of men has reached the point of using chemical acids and electric drills in their joints. If they become desperate with them, they put the drill on their heads until death.
If you like, read the humanitarian reports on the atrocities and crimes in the prisons of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.
I say that despite all the barbaric methods, they have failed to ease resistance, and the number of mujahideen, praise be to God, is increasing.
In fact, reports indicate that the defeat and devastating failure of the ill-omened plan of the four – Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz – and the announcement of this defeat and working it out, is only a matter of time, which is to some extent linked to the awareness of the American people of the magnitude of this tragedy.
The wise ones know that Bush has no plan to achieve his alleged victory in Iraq.
If you compare the small number of the dead when Bush made that false and stupid show-like announcement from an aircraft carrier on the end of the major operations, to many times as much as this number of the killed and injured, who fell in the minor operations, you will know the truth in what I am saying, and that Bush and his administration do not have neither the desire nor the will to withdraw from Iraq for their own dubious reasons.
To go back to where I started, I say that the results of the poll satisfy sane people and that Bush’s objection to them is false.
Reality testifies that the war against America and its allies has not remained confined to Iraq, as he claims.
In fact, Iraq has become a point of attraction and recruitment of qualified resources.
On the other hand, the mujahideen, praise be to God, have managed to breach all the security measures adopted by the unjust nations of the coalition time and again.
The evidence of this is the bombings you have seen in the capitals of the most important European countries of this aggressive coalition.
As for the delay in carrying out similar operations in America, this was not due to failure to breach your security measures.
Operations are under preparation, and you will see them on your own ground once they are finished, God willing.
Based on the above, we see that Bush’s argument is false. However, the argument that he avoided, which is the substance of the results of opinion polls on withdrawing the troops, is that it is better not to fight the Muslims on their land and for them not to fight us on our land.
We do not object to a long-term truce with you on the basis of fair conditions that we respect.
We are a nation, for which God has disallowed treachery and lying.
In this truce, both parties will enjoy security and stability and we will build Iraq and Afghanistan, which were destroyed by the war.
There is no defect in this solution other than preventing the flow of hundreds of billions to the influential people and war merchants in America, who supported Bush’s election campaign with billions of dollars.
Hence, we can understand the insistence of Bush and his gang to continue the war.
If you have a genuine will to achieve security and peace, we have already answered you.
If Bush declines but to continue lying and practicing injustice [against us], it is useful for you to read the book of “The Rogue State”, the introduction of which reads: If I were a president, I would halt the operations against the United States.
First, I will extend my apologies to the widows, orphans, and the persons who were tortured. Afterwards, I will announce that the US interference in the world’s countries has ended for ever.
Finally, I would like to tell you that the war is for you or for us to win. If we win it, it means your defeat and disgrace forever as the wind blows in this direction with God’s help.
If you win it, you should read the history. We are a nation that does not tolerate injustice and seek revenge forever.
Days and nights will not go by until we take revenge as we did on 11 September, God willing, and until your minds are exhausted and your lives become miserable and things turn [for the worse], which you detest.
As for us, we do not have anything to lose. The swimmer in the sea does not fear rain. You have occupied our land, defiled our honour, violated our dignity, shed our blood, ransacked our money, demolished our houses, rendered us homeless, and tampered with our security. We will treat you in the same way.
You tried to deny us the decent life, but you cannot deny us a decent death. Refraining from performing jihad, which is sanctioned by our religion, is an appalling sin. The best way of death for us is under the shadows of swords.
Do not be deluded by your power and modern weapons. Although they win some battles, they lose the war. Patience and steadfastness are better than them. What is important is the outcome.
We have been tolerant for 10 years in fighting the Soviet Union with our few weapons and we managed to drain their economy.
They became history, with God’s help.
You should learn lessons from that. We will remain patient in fighting you, God willing, until the one whose time has come dies first. We will not escape the fight as long as we hold our weapons in our hands.
I swear not to die but a free man even if I taste the bitterness of death. I fear to be humiliated or betrayed.
Peace be upon those who follow guidance.
No Child Left Behind Allows Pentagon Access to High School Students’ Private Records
PG County Students, Principals, Teachers Angered by Military Intrusion
By Vincent J. Swanson
Under the No Child Left Behind education law pushed through Congress by President Bush, the Pentagon now requires that high schools nationwide turn over student’s private information for military recruitment purposes, or face education funding cuts.
The lawmakers who drafted the legislation, which was a centerpiece to then Texas Governor George Bush’s election campaign, buried the recruitment language deep within the many layered 680-page law. Once the bill became law on January 8, 2002, high school administrators were surprised by the requirement, and some in Prince George’s County are unclear as to why the Department of Defense and the Department of Education worked together to mandate the requirement.
“I’m still not sure why this was required by law, or why the Department of Education was in on this,” Monica Goldson said, principal at Frederick Douglass High School in Upper Marlboro. “What’s the catch? Why would the Department of Education care about recruiting kids for the military? It almost seems like the ‘No Child Left Behind’ law means that the Pentagon doesn’t want to leave any child left behind for military service.”
According to the canonical 680-page law legislation that was believed to be purely of an educational purpose the Department of Defense has the authority to access student’s private records for military recruitment purposes. The provision reads, “each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide, on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of higher education, access to secondary school student names, addresses, and telephone listings.”
The law also notes that students may opt-out of the Pentagon’s right to access their files, but only after they receive notice from the child’s parents stating that the information remains private. Some view the requirements as “financial blackmail” and are angered by the “reverse order of things” regarding the parental notification procedure. School administrators also fear that they could be labeled as unpatriotic and face education funding cuts, so they reluctantly comply with the requirements. In essence, the military can access student records at will, unless they hear otherwise, and according to some, the opt-out policy is a disingenuous stunt
“It doesn’t make sense the way the opt-out process works,” Goldson said. “Under the law, the military has the upper hand, because the vast majority of students and parents are unaware of the [recruitment requirement] in the first place, which gives the Pentagon the ultimate power over our student’s private information.”
The new military recruitment provision appears contentious for many reasons. Firstly, when the bill became public law schools were unaware that the Department of Defense placed the requirement in the law’s language, creating a polarizing environment for some county principals and teachers.
“This is a suspicious piece of legislation,” Andrew Pruski said, a history teacher and advisor for the student government at Frederick Douglass High School in Upper Marlboro. “I teach my students about the Soviet Union and [Joseph] Stalin’s abuse of power in the 1940’s and 1950’s during the Cold War. We openly discuss Nazi Germany, [Soviet] Russia, and other anti-democratic governments in world history and how those governments impact societies,” Pruski explained. “My students have been asking me, ‘How far is [American] government going to go?’ in terms of this military recruitment snooping, the war in Iraq, and other anti-democratic actions taken these last few years.”
The constitutionality of the military’s right to student files under No Child Left Behind has also been a contentious issue. The recruitment section of the law surprised Robert V. Percival, a constitutional law professor at the University of Maryland Law School in Baltimore. “The constitutionality claim could be challenged,” Percival said. He pointed to three areas of law that could potentially undermine military access to student records, including the Commerce Clause, Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, the 10th Amendment, and case law South Dakota vs. Dole. He also noted a fourth and poignant point that could challenge the military provision, which is the 1974 Buckley Amendment, also known as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
“The [No Child Left Behind Act and the military recruitment section] shows an inconsistency with Congress and its role over the rights of children, their families, and the right to privacy regarding education under the Buckley Amendment passed in 1974,” Percival explained. “The Buckley Amendment gave students power over their records, such as transcripts, standardized test scores, and other private information, including their addresses and names.”
The Buckley Amendment, named after U.S. Republican Senator James Buckley of New York, was designed to ensure that student records would not be disclosed to others without the consent of the student or the student’s parents. The Buckley Amendment has been broadly implemented since its passage to cover “virtually all student-connected records not just academic records.”
David S. Bogen, professor of law at University of Maryland Law School in Baltimore, said that Congress can place “conditions on expenditures” when funding projects, but was concerned about the military’s new legal claim to private records. “I’m shocked by this,” Bogen said. He also voiced concern about the “chilling effects” such regulations would have on speech rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
“Schools are for school for education not the military,” Martina Jones said, SBMT Member and Parliamentarian of the Student Government Association of Frederick Douglass High School in Upper Marlboro. Jones and other student government officials met to discuss the No Child Left Behind last Friday on campus, explaining that military recruiters routinely call them at home coining them as “military telemarketers” who continually bother them during dinner, or Spam their e-mail accounts with recruitment pitches. The student roundtable was also quick to point out that even though Congress passed the anti-telemarketing law last year, they were confused as to why military recruiters can continue to call them, blocking their caller ID with a “WIT 2001” message, a practice made illegal by the “Do-Not-Call” law.
“I have no idea how they got my e-mail or my phone number,” Amber Brown said, secretary of student government. “I try not to be rude to them when they call, but I’m firm, and just like telemarketers, I tell them I’m not interested.” Brown explained that she has no interest in joining the military and resents the phone calls and e-mails. “Me and my family don’t have any interests in the military. We use our minds…we’re more creative,” the high school senior said.
Students were also perplexed on how the military gained access to their SAT scores without their consent, a practice illegal under federal law. “A recruiter once called me and said that with my high test scores, that I would be a great military candidate,” Jones said. “How did they know my SAT score?” Jones explained. “How are they accessing my scores without me knowing about it?”
The Frederick Douglass students also theorized that once recruiters learn of their SAT scores, they specifically target students who have low-test scores, whereas students with higher test scores are called less frequently. “I’ve never got a call from the Army,” Jones said. “We have a theory that the military targets the kids with lower scores and continues to call them, hoping that they will sign-up for military duty,” she said. “They know that the students with lower grades and test scores have fewer opportunities, so [the military] preys on them,” Jones added. “Isn’t that leaving children behind?”
also:
Give Me Liberty or Let Me Think About It – What the wiretapping debate says about freedom.
The Impeachment of George W. Bush
Bush Authorized Domestic Spying Before 9/11
1972 Supreme Court precedent against warrantless wiretapping! – what’s it gonna take, folks? he broke the law! at the very least he should be removed from office, and he should be in jail!!