Saturday
Chinese checked
By Amiram Barkat
(from Ha'aretz, November 2004)
How are Jews and Israel regarded in China? A recent survey shows positive attitudes and a growing interest in Israel and Judaism among China's future elites.
Last December, Lauren Katz, a student at Beijing University, decided to conduct a survey among her Chinese colleagues about their attitude toward Judaism and Israel. In the course of two months, Katz, an American of Jewish descent, interviewed 214 students, most of them enrolled in the Beijing Foreign Students University (BFSU). The interviewees were asked about their knowledge of and attitude toward the Jewish people, Jewish culture and religion, and the history of the Jewish people. The Holocaust immediately stood out as the most familiar subject. The best known Jewish figure was Albert Einstein, followed by Karl Marx, Henry Kissinger and Moses. Only three of those polled expressed hostility to Israel or to Jews. On the other hand, only 32 students were aware that a differentiation must be made between Israeli politics and the Jews, with two of them noting their reason: "because not all Israelis are Jews." More than 50 percent of the interviewees said that the Jews play an important role in the world, in business, politics, or in general. A similar majority stated that they were curious about the Jews and that they would be happy to learn more about them. Among the responses Katz received to the question, "Is there anything you would like to know more about Judaism as a culture or religion?" were: "whether Jews believe in Christianity to some extent," "family and community values in Judaism," "the similarity and difference between Shanghai people and them," and "why do Jews have to receive circumcision as the signal of their identity, why not choose something noticeable and not painful."
Katz's initiative is one of the few attempts that have been made so far to identify the mood in China with respect to the Jews. No opinion poll based on a statistically representative sample of the Chinese people on the perception of Jews has ever been conducted. Of course, her survey does not represent the broad public, but it does reflect a widespread tendency among the future generation of China's elites. The findings of the survey are included in a new study, "China and the Jewish People," which has just been published by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute (www.jpppi.org.il). This Jerusalem-based institute has been operating for about two years and is funded by the Jewish Agency and Jewish donors from North America. The study about China is intended as the first in a series of publications initiated by the institute's founding president, Prof. Yehezkel Dror, on "emerging superpowers without biblical tradition," a group that also includes countries such as India and Korea.
"The study about China is a strategic document which is intended to assist the Jewish people to prepare for the moment when China becomes a superpower," according to Avinoam Bar-Yosef, the institute's director general. According to forecasts by the experts, the event Bar-Yosef is referring to will occur during the first half of this century. American and French researchers recently estimated that by 2050 China's gross domestic product will be 75 percent larger than that of the United States and more than twice as large as that of the European Union. Israel and Jews would appear to have a great deal to lose if the United States, which is today considered their main and almost only ally, is deprived of its international dominance.
Enhancing ties
Dr. Shalom Salomon Wald, the author of the study on China, is optimistic. In his view, with a relatively small investment, the Jews can gain a great deal by cultivating relations with China. China, he notes, does not have an anti-Semitic past and its attitude toward the Jews is characterized by curiosity, openness and originality, he says. Wald lists a series of steps that could help enhance relations between the two nations, including encouragement of productions on Jewish themes, cultivating academic activity in China in the field of Israel and Judaism studies, and establishing a permanent and representative presence in China of the main movements and streams of the Jewish people.
Wald offers a complex picture in analyzing the manner in which China views its relations with Israel on the one hand and with the Arab world on the other. Traditionally, he notes, China expresses pro-Palestinian and pro-Arab positions, but in his opinion that policy is limited mainly to rhetoric. The Arab countries' fierce objections to cooperation between China and Israel in security and other spheres has no effect on the judgment of the Chinese, he says. Wald believes that China's growing dependence on Middle Eastern oil will bring about a change in its traditional strategic conception and lead to China's increasing involvement in the Middle East. However, even this development will not necessarily lead to disengagement from Israel.
"It would be simplistic to say that China will develop dependence on Middle Eastern oil states while ignoring the dependence of the oil states, which will develop in parallel, on what will be the world's largest market. As a general comment, we can say that the Chinese always make it a point to conduct negotiations from positions of independence and strength. Cultivating relations with Israel in spite of the Muslims' protests sends precisely such a message."
The decision by Wald, 68, to study Chinese attitudes toward the Jews stems from a long-time personal interest in China and its culture. Wald has a distinct Jewish-European background: He was born in Milan, educated in Basel and now lives in Paris. His professional experience includes nearly 40 years of work as a senior researcher at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, where his final position before retiring was as head of the Biotechnology Unit at the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry. To research the study, Wald spent a few months in China. He does not speak Chinese, and his work was limited to reading books in other languages. In addition, he interviewed about 100 researchers from China, the United States and Israel, and held meetings with students in six universities in China.
Wald notes that the number of Chinese who ever met a Jew is infinitesimally small and even students of Jewish subjects in Chinese universities have mostly never seen a Jew. However, it is his contention that there is basic sympathy for Jews and for Israel among the Chinese public, precisely because of Israel's posture vis-?-vis the Arab states. "That sympathy is not always expressed in the official declarations or in the media reports, but it is very pronounced in public forums such as Internet chat sites." In his research, Wald analyzed Chinese views of Jews and grouped them under four heading: Jewish wealth, success and power; Jewish contributions to world civilization, particularly in the fields of science and technology, longevity of the Jewish people and the persecution of Jews during the ages, particularly in the Holocaust.
Israeli and other Jewish researchers support this conclusion. Rebecca Bitterman has been visiting China since the beginning of the 1980s within the framework of her position as curator of Asian art at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. As an Israeli and as a Jew, she says, she never encountered a negative approach. "The characteristic reaction of the person on the street is to link Israel with force and the Jews with cleverness and wealth, but in the positive sense."
One of the researchers this writer spoke with maintained that Israel's force-driven behavior actually reinforces the esteem in which it is held by many Chinese, against the background of powerful negative and even racist feelings toward Muslims that are widespread in Chinese society. Prof. Andrew Plaks, an expert on Chinese literature from Princeton University who also teaches in Israel, notes that his impression is that "as a whole, the reports in the Chinese media about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are far more balanced than those in Europe, for example."
Wald, though, says that the reports about developments in the territories and in Iraq are inciting the Muslim minority in China against Israel and the Jews. According to unofficial estimates, there are up to 40 million Muslims in China, double the number of Muslim migrants in Europe. In China, though, in contrast to Europe, this is a negligible minority - less than 3 percent of the population.
Chinese Jews
A Jewish community existed in China from the 10th century C.E. till the 19th century in the city of Kaifeng. The Jews, who were apparently merchants from Persia, reached the city via the Silk Route when the city was the capital of the Song Dynasty. The community survived for nearly 1,000 years in conditions of almost total severance from the rest of the Jewish world, until it was finally assimilated into the local population. In addition, a community of wealthy Jewish merchants from Iraq settled in Shanghai in the 19th century. This community was joined by waves of Jewish refugees from Russia and from Central Europe, at the beginning of the 20th century and during WWII, who reached China and settled in Harbin, Shanghai and Tianjin. Nearly all these Jews left the country in the years after 1945. Today there is a very small presence of Jews and Israelis in China, mainly in Shanghai and Beijing and in the special economic areas in the south of the country.
In his study, Wald describes in detail the academic activity in the sphere of Jewish studies in China. The absence of an umbrella organization to coordinate academic activity in this area made it very difficult for him to collect the data.
Academic study of Judaism began in China only after the death of Mao Zedong, in 1976. There are now between eight and ten academic centers for the study of Judaism and Israel in the country. The most active center is at Nanjing University and it enjoys funding by Jewish organizations in North America. In 1993 the center's director, Xu Xin, published a Chinese translation of the Encyclopedia Judaica, a project in which 40 researchers took part. According to Xin, about 2,000 students at the university take a course on Jewish subjects every year. Three universities in China (Shanghai, Nanjing and Kaifeng) grant degrees in Jewish history and culture. A fourth, in Jinan, grants a degree in Jewish philosophy. Wald estimates that about 200 researchers are engaged in Jewish subjects on a partial basis and that between 15 and 20 deal with Jewish subjects full-time.
In the realm of Jewish culture, books on Jewish subjects that have been translated into Chinese have succeeded in making inroads among the broad public. Unlike the Europeans, the Chinese are less interested in contemporary Israeli authors such as Amos Oz and David Grossman, and more in historical and religious literature. "Books that describe Jewish antiquity generate special interest," Wald says. "The first edition of the book, `Jerusalem, 3,000 Years of History,' was published in a printing of 5,000 copies in the middle of 2003 and sold out within a short time." Prof. Plaks notes the demand for canonical Jewish books. "Books such as the translations into Chinese of Pirkei Avot [Ethics of the Fathers] and the Mishnayot [teachings of the early sages] are a considerable commercial success and sell thousands of copies each."
Tuesday
The Full Version of Osama bin Laden's (US Election) Speech
(from MEMRI, Nov 2004)
The following is the full version of Osama bin Laden's speech released on October 29, 2004, as broadcast by Al-Sahab Institute for Media Production, which is known to produce Al-Qa'ida's video messages. A link to the video was posted on the Islamist Al-Islah message forum, frequented by Al-Qa'ida supporters. [1]
"O American people, I address these words to you regarding the best way of avoiding another Manhattan, and regarding the war, its causes and its consequences. But before this, I say to you: Security is one of the important pillars of human life, and free men do not take their security lightly, contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom. Let him explain why we did not attack Sweden, for example. Clearly, those who hate freedom - unlike the 19, may Allah have mercy on them - have no self-esteem. We have been fighting you because we are free men who do not remain silent in the face of injustice. We want to restore our [Islamic] nation's freedom. Just as you violate our security, we violate yours. Whoever toys with the security of others, deluding himself that he will remain secure, is nothing but a foolish thief. One of the most important things rational people do when calamities occur is to look for their causes so as to avoid them.
"But I am amazed at you. Although we have entered the fourth year after the events of 9/11, Bush is still practicing distortion and deception against you and he is still concealing the true cause from you. Consequentially, the motives for its reoccurrence still exist. I will tell you about the causes underlying these events and I will tell you the truth about the moments this decision was taken, to allow you to reflect.
"I say to you, as Allah is my witness: We had not considered attacking the towers, but things reached the breaking point when we witnessed the iniquity and tyranny of the American-Israeli coalition against our people in Palestine and Lebanon - then I got this idea.
"The events that had a direct influence on me occurred in 1982, and the subsequent events, when the U.S. permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon with the aid of the American sixth fleet. They started shelling, and many were killed and wounded, while others were terrorized into fleeing. I still remember those moving scenes – blood, torn limbs, and dead women and children; ruined homes everywhere, and high-rises being demolished on top of their residents; bombs raining down mercilessly on our homes. It was as though a crocodile swallowed a child, and he could do nothing but cry. But does a crocodile understand any language other than arms? The entire world saw and heard, but did not respond.
"In those critical moments, I was overwhelmed by ideas that are hard to describe, but they awakened a powerful impulse to reject injustice and gave birth to a firm resolve to punish the oppressors. As I was looking at those destroyed towers in Lebanon, I was struck by the idea of punishing the oppressor in the same manner and destroying towers in the U.S., to give it a taste of what we have tasted and to deter it from killing our children and women. That day I became convinced that iniquity and the premeditated murder of innocent children and women is an established American principle, and that terror is [the real meaning of] 'freedom' and 'democracy,' while they call the resistance 'terrorism' and 'reaction.' America stands for iniquity and for imposing sanctions on millions of people, resulting in the death of many, as Bush Sr. did, causing the mass slaughter of children in Iraq, [the worst] that humanity has ever known. It stands for dropping millions of pounds of bombs and explosives on millions of children in Iraq again, as Bush Jr. did, in order to depose an old agent and to appoint a new agent to help him steal Iraq's oil, and other sorts of horrible things.
"It was against the backdrop of these and similar images that 9/11 came in response to these terrible iniquities. Should a man be blamed for protecting his own? And is defending oneself and punishing the wicked an eye for an eye – is that reprehensible terrorism? Even if it is reprehensible terrorism, we have no other choice. This is the message that we have tried to convey to you, in words and in deeds, more than once in the years preceding 9/11. Observe it, if you will, in the interview with Scott in Time Magazine in 1996, [2] and with Peter Arnett on CNN in 1997, then John Wiener [?] in 1998; observe it, if you will, in the deeds of Nairobi and Tanzania and Aden, and observe it in my interview with 'Abd Al-Bari 'Atwan and in interviews with Robert Fisk. The latter is of your own and of your religious affiliation, and I consider him to be unbiased.
"Would those who claim to stand for freedom in the White House and in the TV stations that answer to them, would they conduct an interview with him [Fisk] so that he might convey to the American people what he has understood from us concerning the causes of our fight against you? For if you were to avoid these causes, you would take America in the right path to the security it knew before 9/11. So much for the war and its causes.
"As for its results, they are very positive, with Allah's grace. They surpassed all expectations by all criteria for many reasons, one of the most important of which is that we had no difficulty dealing with Bush and his administration, because it resembles the regimes in our [Arab] countries, half of which are ruled by the military, and the other half are ruled by the sons of kings and presidents with whom we have had a lot of experience. Among both types, there are many who are known for their conceit, arrogance, greed, and for taking money unrightfully.
"This resemblance began with the visit of Bush Sr. to the region. While some of our people were dazzled by the U.S. and hoped that these visits would influence our countries, it was he who was influenced by these monarchic and military regimes. He envied them for remaining in their positions for decades, while embezzling the nation's public funds with no supervision whatsoever. He bequeathed tyranny and the suppression of liberties to his son and they called it the Patriot Act, under the pretext of war on terrorism.
"Bush Sr. liked the idea of appointing his sons as state [wilaya] governors. Similarly, he did not neglect to import to Florida the expertise in falsifying [elections] from the leaders of this region in order to benefit from it in difficult moments.
"As previously mentioned, it was easy for us to provoke this administration and to drag it [after us]. It was enough for us to send two Jihad fighters to the farthest east to hoist a rag on which 'Al-Qa'ida' was written – that was enough to cause generals to rush off to this place, thereby causing America human and financial and political losses, without it accomplishing anything worthy of mention, apart from giving business to [the generals'] private corporations. Besides, we gained experience in guerilla warfare and in conducting a war of attrition in our fight with the iniquitous, great power, that is, when we conducted a war of attrition against Russia with Jihad fighters for 10 years until they went bankrupt, with Allah's grace; as a result, they were forced to withdraw in defeat, all praise and thanks to Allah. We are continuing in the same policy - to make America bleed profusely to the point of bankruptcy, Allah willing. And that is not too difficult for Allah.
"Whoever says that Al-Qa'ida triumphed over the White House administration, or that the White House administration lost this war - this is not entirely accurate, for if we look carefully at the results, it is impossible to say that Al-Qa'ida is the only cause for these amazing gains. The White House policy, which strove to open war fronts so as to give business to their various corporations - be they in the field of armament, of oil, or of construction - also helped in accomplishing these astonishing achievements for Al-Qa'ida. It appeared to some analysts and diplomats as though we and the White House play as one team to score a goal against the United States of America, even though our intentions differ. Such ideas, and some others, were pointed out by a British diplomat in the course of a lecture at the Royal Institute for International Affairs; for example, that Al-Qa'ida spent $500,000 on the event [9/11] while America lost in the event and its subsequent effects more than 500 billion dollars; that is to say that each of Al-Qa'ida's dollars defeated one million American dollars, thanks to Allah's grace. This is in addition to the fact that America lost a large number of jobs, and as for the [federal] deficit, it lost a record number estimated at a trillion dollars.
"Even more serious for America is the fact that the Jihad fighters have recently forced Bush to resort to an emergency budget in order to continue the fighting in Afghanistan and in Iraq, which proves the success of the plan of bleeding [America] to the point of bankruptcy, Allah willing.
"Indeed, all of this makes it clear that Al-Qa'ida won gains; but on the other hand, it also makes it clear that the Bush administration won gains as well, since anyone who looks at the scope of the contracts won by large dubious corporations like Halliburton and other similar ones that have ties to Bush and to his administration will become convinced that the losing side is in fact you, the American people, and your economy.
"We agreed with the general commander Muhammad Atta, may Allah have mercy on him, that all operations should be carried out within 20 minutes, before Bush and his administration would become aware. We never imagined that the Commander in Chief of the American armed forces would abandon 50,000 of his citizens in the twin towers to face this great horror alone when they needed him most. It seemed to him that a girl's story about her goat and its butting was more important than dealing with planes and their 'butting' into skyscrapers. This allowed us three times the amount of time needed for the operations, Allah be praised.
"It should be no secret to you that American thinkers and intellectuals warned Bush before the war: all that you [Bush] need in order to assure America's security by ridding [Iraq] of weapons of mass destruction, assuming there were any, is at your disposal, and all the countries of the world are with you in the matter of carrying out inspections, and the U.S.'s interest does not require you to drive it into an unjustified war, whose end you cannot know.
"However, the blackness of black gold blinded his sight and his perception and he gave preference to private interests over America's public interest. And so there was war and many died. The American economy bled and Bush became embroiled in the quagmire of Iraq, which now threatens his future.
"His case is like that [described in the parable]:
"He is like the ill-tempered goat that dug out of the ground the sharp knife [with which it would be slaughtered]. [3]
"I say to you: more than 15,000 of our people were killed and tens of thousands were wounded, just as more than 1,000 of you were killed and more than 10,000 wounded, and Bush's hands are sullied with the blood of all of these casualties on both sides, for the sake of oil and to give business to his private companies. You should know that a nation that punishes a weak person if he is instrumental in killing one of that nation's sons for money, while letting go free a high-class man who was instrumental in killing more than 1,000 of its sons, also for money [sic]. Similarly your allies in Palestine intimidate women and children and murder and imprison men. [inaudible]
"Keep in mind that every action has a reaction, and finally you should consider the last wills and testaments of the thousands who left you on 9/11, waving their hands in despair. These are inspiring wills, which deserve to be published and studied thoroughly. One of the most important things I have read regarding their hand-waving signals before they fell is that they were saying 'We were wrong to let the White House carry out unchecked its aggressive foreign policy against oppressed people.' As though they were telling you, the American people, 'You should call to task those who caused our death.' Happy is he who learns a lesson from the experience of others. A verse that I have read is also relevant to their [last] signals:
"Evil kills those who perpetrate it,
"And the pastures of iniquity are harmful.
"There is a saying: a small amount spent on prevention is better than a great amount spent on treatment. You should know that it is better to return to that which is right than to persist in that which is wrong. A rational man would not neglect his security, property, or home for the sake of the liar in the White House.
"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or Al-Qa'ida. Your security is in your own hands, and any [U.S.] state [wilaya] that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security.
"Allah is our guardian but you have none.
"Peace be upon whoever follows the true guidance."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] For the video, see: http://www2.vh-p.net/su/img/257.zip.
For the message containing this link, see: http://www.islahi.net/vboard/showthread.php?t=116671.
[2] The reference is apparently to the article "The Most Wanted Man in the World", to which the reporter Scott MacLeod contributed.
[3] This parable was put into verse by the famous 9th-century Arab writer Jahiz.
(from MEMRI, Nov 2004)
The following is the full version of Osama bin Laden's speech released on October 29, 2004, as broadcast by Al-Sahab Institute for Media Production, which is known to produce Al-Qa'ida's video messages. A link to the video was posted on the Islamist Al-Islah message forum, frequented by Al-Qa'ida supporters. [1]
"O American people, I address these words to you regarding the best way of avoiding another Manhattan, and regarding the war, its causes and its consequences. But before this, I say to you: Security is one of the important pillars of human life, and free men do not take their security lightly, contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom. Let him explain why we did not attack Sweden, for example. Clearly, those who hate freedom - unlike the 19, may Allah have mercy on them - have no self-esteem. We have been fighting you because we are free men who do not remain silent in the face of injustice. We want to restore our [Islamic] nation's freedom. Just as you violate our security, we violate yours. Whoever toys with the security of others, deluding himself that he will remain secure, is nothing but a foolish thief. One of the most important things rational people do when calamities occur is to look for their causes so as to avoid them.
"But I am amazed at you. Although we have entered the fourth year after the events of 9/11, Bush is still practicing distortion and deception against you and he is still concealing the true cause from you. Consequentially, the motives for its reoccurrence still exist. I will tell you about the causes underlying these events and I will tell you the truth about the moments this decision was taken, to allow you to reflect.
"I say to you, as Allah is my witness: We had not considered attacking the towers, but things reached the breaking point when we witnessed the iniquity and tyranny of the American-Israeli coalition against our people in Palestine and Lebanon - then I got this idea.
"The events that had a direct influence on me occurred in 1982, and the subsequent events, when the U.S. permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon with the aid of the American sixth fleet. They started shelling, and many were killed and wounded, while others were terrorized into fleeing. I still remember those moving scenes – blood, torn limbs, and dead women and children; ruined homes everywhere, and high-rises being demolished on top of their residents; bombs raining down mercilessly on our homes. It was as though a crocodile swallowed a child, and he could do nothing but cry. But does a crocodile understand any language other than arms? The entire world saw and heard, but did not respond.
"In those critical moments, I was overwhelmed by ideas that are hard to describe, but they awakened a powerful impulse to reject injustice and gave birth to a firm resolve to punish the oppressors. As I was looking at those destroyed towers in Lebanon, I was struck by the idea of punishing the oppressor in the same manner and destroying towers in the U.S., to give it a taste of what we have tasted and to deter it from killing our children and women. That day I became convinced that iniquity and the premeditated murder of innocent children and women is an established American principle, and that terror is [the real meaning of] 'freedom' and 'democracy,' while they call the resistance 'terrorism' and 'reaction.' America stands for iniquity and for imposing sanctions on millions of people, resulting in the death of many, as Bush Sr. did, causing the mass slaughter of children in Iraq, [the worst] that humanity has ever known. It stands for dropping millions of pounds of bombs and explosives on millions of children in Iraq again, as Bush Jr. did, in order to depose an old agent and to appoint a new agent to help him steal Iraq's oil, and other sorts of horrible things.
"It was against the backdrop of these and similar images that 9/11 came in response to these terrible iniquities. Should a man be blamed for protecting his own? And is defending oneself and punishing the wicked an eye for an eye – is that reprehensible terrorism? Even if it is reprehensible terrorism, we have no other choice. This is the message that we have tried to convey to you, in words and in deeds, more than once in the years preceding 9/11. Observe it, if you will, in the interview with Scott in Time Magazine in 1996, [2] and with Peter Arnett on CNN in 1997, then John Wiener [?] in 1998; observe it, if you will, in the deeds of Nairobi and Tanzania and Aden, and observe it in my interview with 'Abd Al-Bari 'Atwan and in interviews with Robert Fisk. The latter is of your own and of your religious affiliation, and I consider him to be unbiased.
"Would those who claim to stand for freedom in the White House and in the TV stations that answer to them, would they conduct an interview with him [Fisk] so that he might convey to the American people what he has understood from us concerning the causes of our fight against you? For if you were to avoid these causes, you would take America in the right path to the security it knew before 9/11. So much for the war and its causes.
"As for its results, they are very positive, with Allah's grace. They surpassed all expectations by all criteria for many reasons, one of the most important of which is that we had no difficulty dealing with Bush and his administration, because it resembles the regimes in our [Arab] countries, half of which are ruled by the military, and the other half are ruled by the sons of kings and presidents with whom we have had a lot of experience. Among both types, there are many who are known for their conceit, arrogance, greed, and for taking money unrightfully.
"This resemblance began with the visit of Bush Sr. to the region. While some of our people were dazzled by the U.S. and hoped that these visits would influence our countries, it was he who was influenced by these monarchic and military regimes. He envied them for remaining in their positions for decades, while embezzling the nation's public funds with no supervision whatsoever. He bequeathed tyranny and the suppression of liberties to his son and they called it the Patriot Act, under the pretext of war on terrorism.
"Bush Sr. liked the idea of appointing his sons as state [wilaya] governors. Similarly, he did not neglect to import to Florida the expertise in falsifying [elections] from the leaders of this region in order to benefit from it in difficult moments.
"As previously mentioned, it was easy for us to provoke this administration and to drag it [after us]. It was enough for us to send two Jihad fighters to the farthest east to hoist a rag on which 'Al-Qa'ida' was written – that was enough to cause generals to rush off to this place, thereby causing America human and financial and political losses, without it accomplishing anything worthy of mention, apart from giving business to [the generals'] private corporations. Besides, we gained experience in guerilla warfare and in conducting a war of attrition in our fight with the iniquitous, great power, that is, when we conducted a war of attrition against Russia with Jihad fighters for 10 years until they went bankrupt, with Allah's grace; as a result, they were forced to withdraw in defeat, all praise and thanks to Allah. We are continuing in the same policy - to make America bleed profusely to the point of bankruptcy, Allah willing. And that is not too difficult for Allah.
"Whoever says that Al-Qa'ida triumphed over the White House administration, or that the White House administration lost this war - this is not entirely accurate, for if we look carefully at the results, it is impossible to say that Al-Qa'ida is the only cause for these amazing gains. The White House policy, which strove to open war fronts so as to give business to their various corporations - be they in the field of armament, of oil, or of construction - also helped in accomplishing these astonishing achievements for Al-Qa'ida. It appeared to some analysts and diplomats as though we and the White House play as one team to score a goal against the United States of America, even though our intentions differ. Such ideas, and some others, were pointed out by a British diplomat in the course of a lecture at the Royal Institute for International Affairs; for example, that Al-Qa'ida spent $500,000 on the event [9/11] while America lost in the event and its subsequent effects more than 500 billion dollars; that is to say that each of Al-Qa'ida's dollars defeated one million American dollars, thanks to Allah's grace. This is in addition to the fact that America lost a large number of jobs, and as for the [federal] deficit, it lost a record number estimated at a trillion dollars.
"Even more serious for America is the fact that the Jihad fighters have recently forced Bush to resort to an emergency budget in order to continue the fighting in Afghanistan and in Iraq, which proves the success of the plan of bleeding [America] to the point of bankruptcy, Allah willing.
"Indeed, all of this makes it clear that Al-Qa'ida won gains; but on the other hand, it also makes it clear that the Bush administration won gains as well, since anyone who looks at the scope of the contracts won by large dubious corporations like Halliburton and other similar ones that have ties to Bush and to his administration will become convinced that the losing side is in fact you, the American people, and your economy.
"We agreed with the general commander Muhammad Atta, may Allah have mercy on him, that all operations should be carried out within 20 minutes, before Bush and his administration would become aware. We never imagined that the Commander in Chief of the American armed forces would abandon 50,000 of his citizens in the twin towers to face this great horror alone when they needed him most. It seemed to him that a girl's story about her goat and its butting was more important than dealing with planes and their 'butting' into skyscrapers. This allowed us three times the amount of time needed for the operations, Allah be praised.
"It should be no secret to you that American thinkers and intellectuals warned Bush before the war: all that you [Bush] need in order to assure America's security by ridding [Iraq] of weapons of mass destruction, assuming there were any, is at your disposal, and all the countries of the world are with you in the matter of carrying out inspections, and the U.S.'s interest does not require you to drive it into an unjustified war, whose end you cannot know.
"However, the blackness of black gold blinded his sight and his perception and he gave preference to private interests over America's public interest. And so there was war and many died. The American economy bled and Bush became embroiled in the quagmire of Iraq, which now threatens his future.
"His case is like that [described in the parable]:
"He is like the ill-tempered goat that dug out of the ground the sharp knife [with which it would be slaughtered]. [3]
"I say to you: more than 15,000 of our people were killed and tens of thousands were wounded, just as more than 1,000 of you were killed and more than 10,000 wounded, and Bush's hands are sullied with the blood of all of these casualties on both sides, for the sake of oil and to give business to his private companies. You should know that a nation that punishes a weak person if he is instrumental in killing one of that nation's sons for money, while letting go free a high-class man who was instrumental in killing more than 1,000 of its sons, also for money [sic]. Similarly your allies in Palestine intimidate women and children and murder and imprison men. [inaudible]
"Keep in mind that every action has a reaction, and finally you should consider the last wills and testaments of the thousands who left you on 9/11, waving their hands in despair. These are inspiring wills, which deserve to be published and studied thoroughly. One of the most important things I have read regarding their hand-waving signals before they fell is that they were saying 'We were wrong to let the White House carry out unchecked its aggressive foreign policy against oppressed people.' As though they were telling you, the American people, 'You should call to task those who caused our death.' Happy is he who learns a lesson from the experience of others. A verse that I have read is also relevant to their [last] signals:
"Evil kills those who perpetrate it,
"And the pastures of iniquity are harmful.
"There is a saying: a small amount spent on prevention is better than a great amount spent on treatment. You should know that it is better to return to that which is right than to persist in that which is wrong. A rational man would not neglect his security, property, or home for the sake of the liar in the White House.
"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or Al-Qa'ida. Your security is in your own hands, and any [U.S.] state [wilaya] that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security.
"Allah is our guardian but you have none.
"Peace be upon whoever follows the true guidance."
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[1] For the video, see: http://www2.vh-p.net/su/img/257.zip.
For the message containing this link, see: http://www.islahi.net/vboard/showthread.php?t=116671.
[2] The reference is apparently to the article "The Most Wanted Man in the World", to which the reporter Scott MacLeod contributed.
[3] This parable was put into verse by the famous 9th-century Arab writer Jahiz.
