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2003-02-16
The following is the full text of an audio message
purported to be by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, broadcast on Arab television
station al-Jazeera on 11 February.
Twice in the text bin Laden use measurements:
We were about 300 mujahideen [Islamic militants].We dug
100 trenches that were spread in an area that does not exceed one square mile, one trench for every three
brothers, so as to avoid the huge human losses resulting from the bombardment.
To sum it up, the battle resulted in the complete failure of the international alliance of evil, with all its forces, [to overcome] a small number of mujahideen - 300 mujahideen hunkered down in trenches spread over an area of one square mile under a temperature of -10 degrees Celsius. Is it possible bin Laden would have used square miles, or
is this the work of the British translators? If it is the work of the
translators, I wonder what bin Laden really said. Does anyone know if
their are translations of this tape from Arabic into another language other than
through English? Has any Arabic speaker heard the tape or seen the text in
the original Arabic?
I just wonder how probable it would be for bin Laden to
use English miles.
John
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