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June 18, 2005
Bin Laden Aide Rejects Role for the U.S. in the Mideast
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO, June 17 (AP) - Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader disparages the American concept of reform in the Middle East and says armed jihad is the only way to bring change in the Arab world, according to a videotape broadcast Friday by Al Jazeera.
The video was the first by Al Qaeda's top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, since February. He is shown sitting before a plain backdrop with an automatic weapon next to him. He is wearing a white turban and black and white robes.
"The removal of the crusader and Jewish invaders won't occur by peaceful demonstrations," he said in one of three brief clips shown by Al Jazeera. "Reform and expelling the invaders from the countries of Islam won't happen except through fighting for God's sake."
He outlined what he called a true program for reform - based on the rule of Islamic law, the end of American and Western domination and the freedom of Muslim nations to run their own affairs.
"We cannot imagine any reform while our countries are occupied by the crusader forces," he said. "We cannot imagine any reform while our governments are being ruled from the American embassies in our countries."
A spokesman for Al Jazeera, Jihad Ballout, said the station received the tape on Friday, but he would not provide details, and the network would not say how long the full message was.
In another clip, Dr. Zawahiri called on Palestinian militant groups to end a cease-fire with Israel and stay out of coming legislative elections in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
The newscaster said that in other parts of the tape, Dr. Zawahiri denounced sexual assaults on women during antigovernment protests last month in Egypt and sharply criticized the Pakistani, Saudi and Egyptian governments.
Dr. Zawahiri received his medical training in Egypt and served time here for his role in militant activities. After his release, he moved to Afghanistan, where he joined forces with Al Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, in the late 1990's. He went into hiding when the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001.
