Prophetic
voices had warned of the obvious: retaliation from al-Qaida. It didn’t
take long for that prophecy to come to pass. The SITE Intelligence
Group’s monitoring service is reporting that al-Qaida has confirmed bin
Laden’s death in an Internet message. The terrorist group also vowed to
take revenge on the U.S. and its allies.
Al-Qaida released the statement on May 6 to jihad forums. SITE translated letter, which glorified bin Laden with a vengeance.
“In a historic day for the
great Islamic nation … the mujahid (holy warrior) Shiekh Abu Abdullah,
Osama bin Mohammed bin Laden, God have mercy on him, was killed on the
path taken by those before him and will be taken by others after him,”
Reuters reported on the statement. “Congratulations to the Islamic umma
(community) for the martyrdom of its son Osama.”
Al-Qaida also said it would soon release an audio tape bin Laden recorded before he died.
“It
will remain, with permission from God Almighty, a curse that hunts the
Americans and their collaborators and chase them outside and inside
their country. Their happiness will turn into sorrow, and their blood
will be mixed with their tears.
“We
call upon our Muslim people in Pakistan, on whose land Sheikh Osama was
killed, to rise up and revolt to cleanse this shame that has been
attached to them by a clique of traitors and thieves … and in general
to cleanse their country from the filth of the Americans who spread
corruption in it.
“We warn
the Americans not to harm the corpse of the sheikh or expose it to any
indecent treatment or to harm any members of his family, living or dead,
and to deliver the corpses to their families. Any harm done will open
the doors of evil upon you doubly, and you will not have anyone but
yourselves to blame.”
