# Bin Laden Seizes Opportunities in his June and July Speeches



## Infanteer (7 Jul 2006)

Interesting article by Michael Sheuer:

http://www.jamestown.org/news_details.php?news_id=186#



> 07/05/2006 - By Michael Scheuer (from Terrorism Focus, July 5) - Osama bin Laden's speeches on June 30 and July 1 are notable because they portray his confidence and focus, command of the al-Qaeda organization and steady application of a strategy that seeks to prompt U.S. actions that spread U.S. military and intelligence forces in a thinner and more costly manner. They also show the dexterity of al-Qaeda's media arm in producing tapes that are timed to exploit unfolding international events. The speeches were clear, well-informed, forward-looking and taunting. They merit closer examination in the West than such unenlightening headlines as "Bin Laden sounds tired" and "Bin Laden urges war on Iraqi Shias" and "Bin Laden may be injured or dead" suggest they have been given.
> 
> Bin Laden's June 30 speech was a formal eulogy for the slain chief of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Bin Laden praised al-Zarqawi as "an intrepid knight, the lion of jihad and a man of resolve and sound opinion" and said that his death was a "big calamity and a grave matter" for all Muslims. He added, however, that al-Zarqawi's death was God's will, and that much of his work had been completed before he was killed. Underscoring al-Qaeda's intention that Iraq serve as a safe haven for launching operations into the Levant, bin Laden said that al-Zarqawi successfully "established a base [in Iraq] for defending religion and regaining Palestine, God willing." He also noted that al-Zarqawi had fully executed the main role of all senior al-Qaeda leaders: instigation to jihad. Al-Zarqawi's leadership in fighting the U.S.-led coalition and its Iraqi collaborators, bin Laden wrote, "encouraged people from all places far and near, including worshippers and sinners, to come and attack them in Iraq" [1].
> 
> ...



The two bold points are interesting.  The first one deals with the idea of the Islamic Insurgency topic; I'll branch off the alternate discussion there

The second concerns the "dropping of the gauntlet" to the West to go to Sudan, and I think Sheuer has it right.  Human tragedy aside (amongst the many that are always going on), is it really strategically sound for the West to get involved in another military adventure in _Dar al Islam_?  Sheuer made a good point in his book about how the Iraq War played right into Al Qaeda's hands in terms of their ideological goals.  We (both Canada and the West as a whole) are quite busy right now; we don't need to stretch ourselves to the breaking point in this war.  These are the places of Gandamak and Kut, and joining Khartoum to the list (the irony is disturbing) could prove to be folly if we are to win this war.


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## Yrys (14 Mar 2009)

'Bin Laden' attacks Arab leaders, BBC News, Saturday, 14 March 2009






The last tape attributed to Bin Laden 
emerged in January

A new audio message said to be from al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden accuses 
moderate Arab leaders of conspiring with the West against Muslims.

Bin Laden, who has been America's most wanted man since the 9/11 attacks in 
2001, also renews his attacks on Israel in the recording attributed to him. It was 
broadcast by the Qatari-based TV channel al-Jazeera which did not say how it 
had been obtained. Correspondents say the voice sounds similar to previous 
Bin laden tapes.

"It is clear that some Arab leaders have plotted with the Zionist-Crusader [Israel-Western] 
coalition against our people," the speaker on the tape says, without naming any leader.
"These are the leaders that America calls moderate."

He also accuses Israel of war crimes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where it waged 
an offensive earlier this year, leaving some 1,300 people dead.


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## leroi (14 Mar 2009)

The newest alleged OBL tape which Yrys refers to in post above:

http://vodpod.com/watch/1431112-audio-recording-osama-bin-laden-tape-14-mar-09


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