Wednesday 30 May 2007

Al-Qaeda Warns Of Attacks 'Worse Than 9/11'

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070530/wl_mideast_afp/qaedaattacksusmideast_070530103055;_ylt=AjwmHKOssyq0m2p6RTFXeTUUewgF


DUBAI (AFP) - An American member of Al-Qaeda warned in an Internet video that US President George W. Bush' should withdraw all his troops from Muslim land or face attacks worse than September 11. Adam Gadahn, a convert to Islam who has been indicted for treason by a US jury, issued a list of demands which he said were not up for negotiation.

"Your failure to heed our demands means that you and your people...will experience things that will make you forget all about the horrors of September 11, and Virginia Tech," he said in the video posted on Tuesday.

"You're losing on all fronts and losing big time," said Gadahn, who is the English-language spokesman for Osama bin Laden's terror network.

The tape entitled "Legitimate Demands" was produced by As-Sahab, a media outfit that specialises in Al-Qaeda online material.

Gadahn -- sporting a headress, glasses and long beard -- said Bush had "embroiled his nation in a series of unwinnable and bloody conflicts in the Islamic world."

He also called on the United States to cease support for the "bastard state of Israel" and the "56-plus apostate regimes of the Muslim world" and to free all Muslims from its prisons.

"We don't negotiate with war criminals and baby killers like you. No, these are legitimate demands which must be met," he said.

Gadahn -- also known Azzam al-Amriki and Azzam the American -- has appeared in several videotapes for Al-Qaeda since 2004, praising the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington and threatening new terror onslaughts.

In October 2006, he became the first person to be charged in the United States with treason since the World War II era. The charge carries a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of death.

Gadahn, who is believed to be in Pakistan, has a one million dollar reward for his capture and appears along with bin Laden on a US "Wanted" poster featuring 26 "faces of global terrorism". His last appearance in a video was in September last year.

Gadahn was born in 1978 in southern California, the son of a 1960s Jewish rock musician who later converted to Christianity and became a rural goat farmer.

His conversion to Islam came after he began attending the Islamic Centre of Orange County, where he is believed to have come under the influence of two foreign-born Islamic radicals.

Gadahn is believed to have left California for Karachi in 1998 and gradually fell out of contact with relatives in the United States.

His reference to Virginia Tech was to the shooting of 32 people at the university by a Korean-born gunman who then turned the gun on himself.







Al-Qaida Video Threatens Attacks On U.S.

by: ANNA JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070530/ap_on_re_mi_ea/al_qaida_american_video


CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - An American member of al-Qaida warned President on Tuesday to end U.S. involvement in all Muslim lands or face an attack worse than the Sept. 11 suicide assault, according to a new videotape. Wearing a white robe and a turban, Adam Yehiye Gadahn, who also goes by the name Azzam al-Amriki, said al-Qaida would not negotiate on its demands.

"Your failure to heed our demands ... means that you and your people will ... experience things which will make you forget all about the horrors of September 11th and Virginia Tech," he said in the seven-minute video.

Gadahn, who has been charged in a U.S. treason indictment with aiding al-Qaida, spoke in English and the video carried Arabic subtitles. The video appeared on a Web site often used by Islamic militants and carried the logo of al-Qaida's media wing, as-Sahab.

Gadahn, who appeared in an al-Qaida video last September in which he called on Americans to convert to Islam, demanded that Bush remove all U.S. military and spies from Islamic countries, free all Muslims from U.S. prisons and end support for Israel. He said a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq alone would not satisify al-Qaida. Ben Venzke at IntelCenter, a U.S. government contractor that monitors al-Qaida messages, said the group likely did not believe any of its demands would be met.

"It essentially allows al-Qaida to say that it has provided fair warning and is thus no longer responsible for the outcome," Venzke said in a statement.

Gadahn, a California native, is the first American to be charged with treason in more than 50 years and could face the death penalty if convicted. He also was indicted on a charge of providing material support to terrorists.

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