Bin Laden Releases New Audio Tape Warning Iraq

December 30, 2007 · Filed Under Iraq War, Osama Bin Laden, Terrorism, Terrorists, War on Terror, World News

Osama bin Laden warned Iraq’s Sunni Arabs against fighting al-Qaida and vowed to expand the terror group’s holy war to Israel in a new audiotape Saturday, threatening “blood for blood, destruction for destruction.”

Most of the 56-minute tape dealt with Iraq, apparently al-Qaida’s latest attempt to keep supporters in Iraq unified at a time when the U.S. military has dealt severe blows to al-Qaida’s Iraq branch in recent months.

In Iraq, a number of Sunni Arab tribes in western Anbar province have formed a coalition fighting al-Qaida-linked insurgents that U.S. officials credit for deeply reducing violence in the province. The U.S. military has been working to form similar “Awakening Councils” in other areas of Iraq.

Bin Laden said Sunni Arabs who have joined the Awakening Councils “have betrayed the nation and brought disgrace and shame to their people. They will suffer in life and in the afterlife.”

In the audiotape, bin Laden denounced Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, the former leader of the Anbar Awakening Council, who was killed in a September bombing claimed by al-Qaida.

“The most evil of the traitors are those who trade away their religion for the sake of their mortal life,” bin Laden said.

Bin Laden talked about U.S. and Iraqi officials attempt to set up a “national unity government” joining the country’s Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

“Our duty is to foil these dangerous schemes, which try to prevent the establishment of an Islamic state in Iraq, which would be a wall of resistance against American schemes to divide Iraq,” he said.

He called on Iraq’s Sunni Arabs to rally behind the Islamic State of Iraq, the insurgent umbrella group led by al-Qaida. Besides the Awakening Councils, some Sunni insurgent groups that continue to fight the Americans have rejected the Islamic State.

What this tape shows is that Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda are getting desperate. He has all but lost popular support among the populace in Iraq, which is the most critical factor in sustaining an insurgency. Anyone that continues to say we’re losing the war in Iraq is either a fool, or just doesn’t want to see the truth.

We were on the wrong track for the first few years in Iraq, but thanks to General Petraeus we are now finally turning things around. Even people who were and are against the Iraq war should be able to get behind a winning strategy. People like Harry Reid who continue to call for withdrawal are bitter, ignorant, and partisan Democrats who care more about undermining President Bush than about a victory for America.

The anti-war crowd are a very small, albeit shrill minority whose power doesn’t extend much beyond the Blogosphere. Democrats who continue to pander to their 1960’s era hippie base are making a big mistake. Most Americans even those against the Iraq war still want to see their country succeed.

We finally have a strategy that’s succeeding and we need to come together as Americans and see this thing through to the end. When the end might be is not clear yet, but as long as we continue to move forward and make progress we should support the Iraq effort for as long as it takes.

-Chris Jones