Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility For UN Bombing

Mohamad Salah     Al-Hayat     2003/08/25

Cairo

A statement attributed to Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the explosion of the UN headquarters in Baghdad last week, saying the operation was a "lesson to the U.S." The communiqué, which was signed by the Abi Hafs Al Masri brigades - the same party that claimed responsibility for the power failure in New York and Toronto - used the same terms that Al Qaeda is in the habit of using.  

Al-Hayat obtained the communiqué from a radical Internet site; it gave details about the operation and the way it was carried out, after it considered that the UN "works against Islam," and "represents the U.S. State Department and beautifies its ugly face." The group's previous communiqué had talked about the plan to "bleed and scatter the snake (the U.S. enemy)," while the new statement, it considered that the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad falls in this context. It pointed out that the "UN is one of the branches of the U.S. State Department, taking the cover of an alleged international organization." In response to what was said about the fact that the bombing would drive the UN to pull out from Iraq and leave everything to the Americans, which would negatively affect Iraq, the report said that "this is an American series which the U.S. convinced the world of, so does the slave disobey his master? It (the UN) is nothing but a hostage of the Bush administration and his Zionist gang, the UN won't leave Iraq except when America perishes, God willing, this organization will persist until it gives America the legitimacy, and reduces the economic burden on America, so where is the mind and logic?" The statement adds that "the UN is the mean stick which the U.S. uses to admonish those who deviate from its policy towards other countries, especially when it concerns Jewish-American security; so it accuses Palestine of terrorism and describes the criminal Jews as the poor victims. America is Islam's first enemy; it is the one that fights it everywhere, that kills directly in Iraq and Afghanistan, and indirectly in Philippine, Kashmir and Palestine, yet it is the one that helps and protects the Jews in Palestine."

The statement addressed the Iraqi nation saying: "Abi Hafs Al Masri brigades are against any act that harms the Iraqi nation, such as the explosion of Abu Ghraib's prison and of the main water pipeline in Baghdad, since it is not admissible to harm the Muslims; so let this organization (the UN) get out of our land and leave us with our religion. Where does it stand from the Jews' crimes in Palestine and its void resolutions against the Jews like resolutions 242 and 338? Weren't the U.S. and this organization, in addition to the rest of the crusaders, those who displaced the Palestinians from their nation 50 years ago? Isn't it the one that keeps silent on the Russian crimes in Chechnya, in return for Russian silence over America's crimes in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Palestine? Isn't it the one that gave America the right to declare war against the Muslims in its resolution 1171, under the name of war against terror? Isn't it the one that supported America to strike the fighters in Afghanistan? Aren't the UN headquarters just a few hundred kilometers away from the largest prison torturing Muslims in Cuba (Guantanamo)? What is its position towards the massacres of Muslims in the world, Palestine, Philippine, India and Afghanistan? Isn't it the one that cried over the bombing of Buddha's statues in Afghanistan? Where was it when the Babri mosque was destroyed in India?" The statement also insisted on the fact that the "strike in Iraq was a lesson to America and its State Department (the UN against Islam) that embellishes America's ugly face."

The communiqué reported the details of the bombing in Baghdad as following: "one of the Mujahideen broke in with a van full of explosives into the back part of the headquarters at the office of the personal representative of America's criminal slave, Kofi Annan, the diseased Sergio De Mello, criminal Bush's friend. The explosion took place half an hour after the meeting of De Mello with the U.S. civil governor criminal Paul Bremer and some of the deserters. The Mujahideen carried out the strike behind the building, so that none of the innocent Iraqis passing through gets hurt."

The statement vowed that "the next winter will be full of vengefulness towards the enemies of Islam." It inquired: "why cry over a heretic representative (De Mello)? Sergio Viera De Mello is the one who tried to embellish the image of America, the crusaders and the Jews in Lebanon and Kosovo, and now in Iraq. He is America's first man where he was nominated by Bush to be in charge of the UN after Kofi Annan, the criminal and slave of America; and he is the crusader that extracted a part of the Islamic land (East Timor), in the UN law against Islam, independence is forbidden for the Muslims." It continued that "this criminal was the UN's primary source to starve the Iraqis for twelve years, in collaboration with the criminal Saddam Hussein, to disarm the land of succession and destroy the civilization of supporters' land."

The report concluded addressing the Iraqis: "this organization (the UN) is neither your salvation nor the rescue rim, yet it is part of the crusaders and Jews' conspiracy over you. Don't you remember who was responsible for the killing of more than one million Iraqis in a siege that lasted 12 years?"