MER - Washington - 12 March:
    U.S. and Israelis policies in the Middle East, supported by key Western European states especially Great Britain, do not come without a price.  And that price could become considerably greater in the
months and years ahead.
    Except for the huge military build-up to "liberate" Kuwait in 1990, never before have so many American forces been stationed in the Middle East; never before have U.S. attempts to control the region and "disarm" the Arabs been so blatant; and never before has Israeli influence over American policies been so considerable.
    Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the U.A.E. are now practically speaking American-protectorates.  Other key countries -- including Jordan and Egypt -- are very much American controlled.
    As the Americans continue their policies to disarm and prostrate the Arab country that was the most powerful -- with the aim of installing a new client regime in Baghdad and teaching all regimes a lesson -- a regional counter-reaction may yet take hold.  Should the Iraqis resist in any serious manner they will be attacked again with massive military force; and this could yet be the spark igniting the fuse of greater regional turmoil for some time to come.
   The following call to Jihad against the Americans was made a few weeks ago just prior to the U.S. decision to back from militarily attacking Iraq, using the Kofi Annan negotations for an excuse.  Even
so the entire region is now destablized and with an ongoing reawakening of Arab and Muslim nationalist identity and determination from Iran in the East to Algeria in the West.
 
     "KILL THE AMERICANS -- CIVILIANS AND MILITARY"
 
(London, Amman, Washington) AL-QUDS AL-'ARABI, 2/23/98 (Page 1):
     Fundamentalist groups leaders have issued a statement in which they issued a fatwa to "kill the Americans, civilians and military," in retaliation for any U.S. attack on Iraq.
    The text of the fatwa -- contained in a statement faxed to Al-Quds al-'Arabi and signed by
 
* Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin (the prominent Saudi oppositionist);
* Ayman al-Zawahiri, amir of the Jihad Group in Egypt;
* Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, a leader of the [Egyptian] Islamic Group;
* Shaykh Mir Hamzah, secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan; and
* Fazlul Rahman, amir of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh

says that the ruling to kill the Americans and their allies, civilians and military, is an individual duty [fard 'ayn] on every Muslim who can do so in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to
liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order that their armies move out of all the land of Islam defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim in compliance with the
words of Almighty God.
   Justifying the call to kill U.S. civilians and military men, the statement said that "U.S. aggression is affecting Muslim civilians, not just the military." [Fatwa text published in full on page 3]
 

 "F A T W A"

 TEXT OF "FATWA" URGING JIHAD AGAINST AMERICANS.
           (Original in Arabic)

Praise be to God, who revealed the Book, controls the clouds, defeats
factionalism, and says in His Book"But when the forbidden months are
past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, seize them,
beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)";
and peace be upon our Prophet, Muhammad Bin-'Abdallah, who said
I have been sent with the sword between my hands to ensure that no
one but God is worshipped, God who put my livelihood under the
shadow of my spear and who inflicts humiliation and scorn on those
who disobey my orders. The Arabian Peninsula has never -- since God
made it flat, created its desert, and encircled it with seas -- been
stormed by any forces like the crusader armies spreading in it like
locusts, eating its riches and wiping out its plantations. All this
is happening at a time in which nations are attacking Muslims like
people fighting over a plate of food. In the light of the grave
situation and the lack of support, we and you are obliged to discuss
current events, and we should all agree on how to settle the matter.

No one argues today about three facts that are known to everyone;
we will list them, in order to remind everyone

First, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the
lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula,
plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its
people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the
Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring
Muslim peoples.

If some people have in the past argued about the fact of the
occupation, all the people of the Peninsula have now acknowledged it.

The best proof of this is the Americans' continuing aggression against
the Iraqi people using the Peninsula as a staging post, even though all
itsrulers are against their territories being used to that end, but
they are helpless. Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on
the Iraqi people by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge
number of those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all
this,
the Americans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres,
as though they are not content with the protracted blockade imposed
after the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation.

So here they come to annihilate what is left of this people and to
humiliate their Muslim neighbors.

Third, if the Americans' aims behind these wars are religious and
economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert
attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims
there.

The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest
neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states
of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper
statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's
survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the
Peninsula.

All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear
declaration of war on God, his messenger, and Muslims. And ulema
have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is
an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries. This
was revealed by Imam Bin-Qadamah in "Al- Mughni," Imam al-Kisa'i
in "Al- Bada'i," al-Qurtubi in his interpretation, and the shaykh of
al-Islam [not further identified] in his books, where hesaid "As for the
fighting to repulse [an enemy], it is aimed at defending sanctity and
religion, and it is a duty as agreed [by the ulema]. Nothing is more
sacred than belief except repulsing an enemy who is attacking
religion and life.

On that basis, and in compliance with God's order, we issue the
following fatwa to all Muslims.

The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and
military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in
any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the
al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order
for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and
unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of
Almighty God, "and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all
together," and "fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression,
and there prevail justice and faith in God."

This is in addition to the words of Almighty God "And why should ye
not fight in the cause of God and of those who, being weak, are ill-
treated (and oppressed) -- women and children, whose cry is 'Our Lord,
rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for
us from thee one who will help!'

We -- with God's help -- call on every Muslim who believes in God and
wishes to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the Americans
and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it. We also
call on Muslim ulema, leaders, youths, and soldiers to launch the raid
n Satan's U.S. troops and the devil's supporters allying with them, and
to displace those who are behind them so that they may learn a lesson.

Almighty God said "O ye who believe, give your response to God and
His Apostle, when He calleth you to that which will give you life. And
know that God cometh between a man and his heart, and that it is He
to whom ye shall all be gathered."

Almighty God also says "O ye who believe, what is the matter with you,
that when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of God, ye cling so
heavily to the earth! Do ye prefer the life of this world to the
hereafter?  But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with
the hereafter. Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous
penalty, and put others in your place; but Him ye would not harm in
the least. For God hath power over all things."

Almighty God also says "So lose no heart, nor fall into despair. For
ye must gain mastery if ye are true in faith."