MY LAST QUESTION TO USAMA BIN LADEN
Source/Publisher: The Friday Times
(Lahore, Pakistan)
http://www.TheFridayTimes.comThe writer, Editor of Ausaf, Pakistan's influential Urdu-language daily newspaper, says that Usama's poems will live after his death and spread hatred against America.
http://www.TheFridayTimes.com/news7a.htmHAMID MIR
LAHORE, Pakistan, September 21-27, 2001 (The Friday Times): I first met Usama bin Laden in Jalalabad in March 1997. I was there to interview him. Instead, he started interviewing me. He seemed to have done his homework; for instance, he knew that I had interviewed Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Perez in Switzerland, Nelson Mandela in New Zealand, Yasser Arafat in the United States and Laila Khalid, the famous Palestinian woman hijacker, in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Obviously, he had a file on me. That made me nervous. I couldn't hide my discomfiture and he enjoyed my unease. "I even know that Asif Zardari (husband of former premier Benazir Bhutto) does not like you and the (then) present Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, is also against you. It proves that you are a good journalist and will not distort my views. I gave an interview to CNN but their editing created problems for me." He hoped that I would not create problems for him.
I realised that this was not going to be an ordinary interview and that I was in big trouble. However, within an hour of the interview, I felt relaxed. Usama was very friendly, which encouraged me to even ask him odd questions. "You have 25 brothers, do you remember the names of all the brothers?" I asked him. The question prompted him to talk about his father, the late Muhammad bin Laden. Usama's father owned a construction company that took part in the renovation of the Madina and Al-Aqsa Mosques. He wanted to liberate Al-Aqsa from Jewish control. One day, he summoned his engineers and ordered them to convert the 200 bulldozers of his company into tanks. When the engineers told him that it was not possible, Usama's father was disappointed. He wanted to attack Israel with the 200 tanks. "My father (then) decided to produce many sons, as many as he could and to convert them into mujahids."
And narrating this, Usama began to laugh. Responding to another question, he said: "I have three wives and 16 children. All of my sons are ready to sacrifice their lives in the name of Allah Almighty."
This interview was published in "Daily Pakistan". It was the first time that Pakistanis got to know Usama and the fact that he demands the expulsion of American troops from Saudi Arabia and the expulsion of Jews from Palestine in light of the Holy Quran and the teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). "Until we leave our faith, the Jews and Christians can never become friends of the Muslims. So expel them from Arab lands. This is not what I say; this is what the Holy Quran and Allah's Prophet [PBUH] says. Do you agree with me or not?" This is Osama's famous argument. The main strength of his arguments lies in contradictory American policies. "Americans wants to implement the UN resolutions against Iraq, Libya and Iran but not against Israel because America is Islam's enemy."
In many of the Islamic countries, Usama is a hero by default. While moderate Muslims do not share some of his extremist ideas, he is the main beneficiary of the growing hatred in the Islamic World against America.
I did my second interview with him for Daily "Ausaf" in May 1998. This time he threw some light on his differences with the Saudi Government. He said that he opposed the Saudi support for Iraq against Iran throughout the Gulf War. "The Saudi Interior Minister, Prince Naif, was my opponent in the ruling establishment. When Iraq attacked Kuwait, my government asked for my help but I left my country because I was not ready to fight against Iraq with the help of the Americans who ditched us in Afghanistan."
In the second meeting, he invited me to his press conference, which was to be held in Khost some weeks later. I refused to attend the press conference and said that he would invite too many journalists and the information about his hideout would be leaked. "That information would be vital to the Americans and they could get a chance to bomb you," I told him. This is what happened in Khost in August 1998. The Americans attacked his camps with cruise missiles.
My refusal to attend the press conference was a surprise for Usama. He liked my careful attitude and asked me if I would write his biography. I agreed after some deliberation with the condition that I would not take dictation. He also agreed with a condition that I would have the rights to only the Urdu and English Editions and I would not publish his biography in any other language without his prior approval. A written agreement was signed between us. I gave him a long list of questions. After some weeks I received his answers through a messenger. Initially, Maulana Muhammad Abdullah, Khateeb of Red Mosque in Islamabad, was my contact with Usama. The Maulana was killed mysteriously in October 1998 in Islamabad.
I lost contact with Usama for a long time. At the time he was also facing some restrictions from the Taleban. After a year, some non-Pakistani colleagues of Usama began to visit me. Some of them I had met earlier in Afghanistan. Even as I was writing the last chapter of the book, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, an ex-Senator and leader of the Jamiat-e-Ulma-e-Islam revealed to me that Usama had give millions of Dirhams to Nawaz Sharif in 1989, with the promise that Sharif would use this money for promoting jehad [war against terrorism] in Pakistan if he became the Prime Minister.
I delayed the book and sent my last question to Usama. I wanted to know if it was true that he had given money to Sharif? Where had this money gone? Why had Sharif allowed the Americans to launch a ground operation against him in October 1999? Had he
(Usama) met Sharif personally at the Green Hotel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with one Khalid Khawaja?
I never received the answers of my last question. Ms. Bhutto says that this money was used against her in a no-confidence move in 1989.
I received Usama's last massage late at night on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. It was a written statement in which he denied that he was involved in the terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania, USA. Millions of people in this world are waiting for credible evidence against Usama bin Laden. If there is no legal proof, America's war against the Taleban could easily become a clash of Islamic and Western civilizations.
Very few people know that Usama bin Laden is also a poet. Most of his poems are about Palestine. The United States can eliminate him physically but his poems cannot be eliminated. These poems will spread more hatred against America after Usama is killed.
INFOTIMES INTERNET-WEB LINKS:
My Last Question To Usama bin Laden
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/InfoTimes/message/1070Peter Arnett's Interview of Usama bin Laden
http://www.flinet.com/~politics/jihad/jihad.htmRobert Fisk Talks with Osama bin Laden
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=archive&s=fisk_wtc_19980921Latest News About Usama bin Laden
http://www.al-bab.com/arab/news/laden.htmUsamah Bin Ladin Interview With Nida ul Islam
http://www.islam.org.au/articles/15/LADIN.HTMUsamah bin Ladin - The Holy Warrior - Hero of Afghan War
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/3606/binladen.htmlUssamah Bin Laden - MSA News
http://msanews.mynet.net/Scholars/LadenDaily Ausaf
http://www.dailyausaf.comU.S. State Department 'Fact' Sheet on Usama Bin Laden
http://www.state.gov/www/regions/sa/bin_laden_charges.html http://usembassy.state.gov/afghanistan/wwwh0001.htmlU.S. Government 'Fact' Sheet on Usama Bin Ladin
http://usembassy.state.gov/afghanistan/wwwhtr01.htmlFBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives - Usama Bin Laden
http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/fugitives/laden.htmFatwah Urging Jehad Against U.S. Government
http://www.ict.org.il/articles/fatwah.htmNOTE: A pro-America scholar of Islam has pointed out that there is absolutely NO legal evidence to prove that Usama bin Laden issued and signed the fatwa or Islamic edict against the U.S. Government and Americans which was published on February 23, 1998 in the newspaper, Al-Quds Al-Arabi. He says that real Islamic fatwas are issued in the Arabic, Persian/Farsi, Dari, Urdu and several other languages in the world, but he has never seen any fatwa originally written in the English-language. Therefore, he has urged the U.S. Government to release the so-called original Arabic-language fatwa document containing the actual signature of Usama bin Laden to the American press and American public so that the Islamic scholars could determine its authenticity. He pointed out that there are many evil criminals who are in the illegal business of issuing false, fabricated and malicious fatwas to malign a Muslim, an Islamic organization, all Muslims or all Arabs. He also pointed out that everyone in the whole world is innocent until proven guilty in an independent court of law after a fair and just trial which must be held under just and fair laws.
[Publisher: Information Times
http://www.InformationTimes.comAmerica's international daily Internet newspaper
Chief Editor: Syed Adeeb - Washington, DC, U.S.A.
Copyright © 2001 Information Times. All Rights Reserved.]
NSP Lista isprobava demokratiju u praksi
==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrBE8.bVKZIq Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
