SAUDI ARABIA/IRAQ/AFGHANISTAN: MUSLIMS AT ANNUAL HAJ PILGRIMAGE AND IN BAGHDAD REACT TO LATEST MESSAGE FROM FUGITIVE OSAMA BIN LADEN

Record ID: 189782

  • Title: SAUDI ARABIA/IRAQ/AFGHANISTAN: MUSLIMS AT ANNUAL HAJ PILGRIMAGE AND IN BAGHDAD REACT TO LATEST MESSAGE FROM FUGITIVE OSAMA BIN LADEN
  • Date: 12th February 2003
  • Summary: (W4) MENA, SAUDI ARABIA (FEBRUARY 12, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF PILGRIMS (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) NIGERIAN PILGRIM ABOU BAKER HOYA SAYING "Osama bin Laden, I wish him every success in his life. Inshallah the Moslems will very soon be the best, on top of every enemy, inshallah." 0.23 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PHILIPINO HASRAT ANULA SAYING "We are happy that we have a brother who is fighting for Islam because if we will not fight we are always down." 0.34 4. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) INDIAN DR.SHABAN SAYINGA SAYING "We should fight against all evil things including America - all those evil things, all those fools who are against Islam - we must fight them." 0.41 5. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EGYPTIAN AHMED ALI SAYING "We hope he (Osama bin Laden) is alive to participate in the struggle of this nation." 0.49 6. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EGYPTIAN ABDUL RAHMAN MOUSTAPHA SAYING "If Bin Laden is for the benefit of Islam then I pray to God for his success and to guide him through to the victory of Islam." 0.56 7. WS: SECURITY AND PILGRIMS 1.01 (U3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 12, 2003) (REUTERS) 8. SV: MEN READING NEWSPAPERS 1.05 9. MV: PEOPLE WALKING IN STREET 1.08 10. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED MAN SAYING "Dissident Bin Laden has nothing to do with Islam and he's a dissident from Arabs and Moslems. So we have nothing to do with what he said, even if he remains speaking for four or five days. I'm not convinced with what he (Bin Laden) says." 1.31 11. SV: MORE OF PEOPLE WALKING IN STREET 1.36 12. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ANOTHER UNIDENTIFIED MAN SAYING "As I am an Iraqi citizen, we have no relationship with Bin Laden, and we have no ties with any foreign movement, we are Iraqis. We defy anybody, we defy America and Zionism (Israel) to prove such ties. As a result of their greed for Iraq and its people's wealth, they are daily accusing us with various charges, they are daily coming out with special policy, with special trends. We remain steadfast till the last drop of blood. We have previous feats for example the 1920 revolution." 2.14 13. WIDE OF TRAFFIC IN BAGHDAD STREET 2.20 (U3) BAGRAM AIR BASE, AFGHANISTAN (FEBRUARY 12, 2003) (REUTERS) 14. MV: KOREAN SOLDIERS AT THE OPENING CEREMONY FOR THE NEW KOREAN HOSPITAL INSIDE BAGRAM AIR BASE 2.24 15. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) LT-GENERAL DAN MCNEILL SAYING "I don't know if he's alive, I don't know if he's dead. Since I don't know the answer to either of those it's hard to say where he might be. If he's dead I know exactly where he is. He's burning in hell." 2.35 16. SV: AFGHAN LOCAL OFFICIALS LISTENING 2.41 17. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) MCNEILL SAYING "We've heard those calls before. We'll be prepared." (DID YOU HAVE TO STEP UP SECURITY HERE?) "I think we have pretty good security here." (YOU DON'T SEE ANY NEED TO STEP UP SECURITY?) "I haven't seen any information right now which would tell me to change anything that we're doing." 3.00 18. WS: AFGHAN CHILDREN WAITING OUTSIDE HOSPITAL 3.04 19. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) MCNEILL SAYING "We're winning this thing and we're gonna win it and whatever he (bin Laden) might want to utter in tape, it causes me no great concern." 3.12 20. WS: MORE OF SOLDIERS AT CEREMONY 3.16 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 27th February 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MENA, SAUDI ARABIA/ BAGHDAD, IRAQ/ BAGRAM AIR BASE, AFGHANISTAN
  • City:
  • Country: Saudi Arabia Afghanistan Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA7CADDDUDE4UUYGRXZ5U1ORX53
  • Story Text: Muslims performing the annual haj pilgrimage in Saudi
    Arabia were overjoyed to hear of Osama Bin Laden's message and
    urged him to lead Muslims in their struggle against
    "infidels", but citizens of Baghdad said they had nothing to
    do with Bin Laden. And a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan said the
    tape made no difference to him.


    Some two million Muslims prayed and performed rituals
    on the fourth and penultimate day of the haj pilgrimage in
    Mena, near Mecca on Wednesday (February 12).

    Some pilgrims supported the message broadcast on Tuesday
    (February 11) by Osama Bin Laden, alleged to be behind the
    September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States in which about
    3,000 died.

    Nigerian pilgrim Abou Baker Hoya said: "Osama bin Laden -
    I wish him every success in his life. Inshallah the Moslems
    will very soon be the best - on top of every enemy,
    inshallah."
    Filipino national Hasrat Anula said: "We are happy that we
    have a brother who is fighting for Islam because if we will
    not fight we are always down."
    Indian Doctor Shaba Sayinga said: "We should fight
    against all evil things including America - all those evil
    things, all those fools who are against Islam - we must fight
    them."
    Ahmed Ali, a pilgrim from Egypt, said: "We hope he (Osama
    bin Laden) is alive to participate in the struggle of this
    nation."
    His compatriot, Abdul Rahman Moustapha said; "If Bin Laden
    is for the benefit of Islam then I pray to God for his success
    and to guide him through to the victory of Islam."
    Osama bin Laden has taken centre stage in the Iraq crisis
    with release of a tape exhorting Muslims to fight the "allies
    of the devil."
    Iraqis reacted angrily to new reports regarding links with
    Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden. They said that such reports were just
    fabrications that were unfounded and baseless.

    One Baghdad citizen said: "Dissident Bin Laden has nothing
    to do with Islam and he's a dissident from Arabs and Moslems.

    So we have nothing to do with what he said, even if he remains
    speaking for four or five days. I'm not convinced with what he
    (Bin Laden) says."
    Another man defied the United States to prove the alleged
    links between Iraq and al-Qaeda.

    "As I am an Iraqi citizen, we have no relationship with
    Bin Laden, and we have no ties with any foreign movement, we
    are Iraqis. We defy anybody, we defy America and Zionism
    (Israel) to prove such ties. As a result of their greed for
    Iraq and its people's wealth, they are daily accusing us with
    various charges, they are daily coming out with special
    policy, with special trends. We remain steadfast till the last
    drop of blood. We have previous feats for example the 1920
    revolution," he said.

    At Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, a new Korean hospital
    was opened on Wednesday. Speaking at the opening ceremony,
    Lt-General Dan McNeill said that he didn't know if Osama bin
    Laden was alive or dead: "Since I don't know the answer to
    either of those it's hard to say where he might be. If he's
    dead I know exactly where he is. He's burning in hell."
    He said security at the air base was good and he had not
    been asked to make any changes. "We're winning this thing and
    we're gonna win it and whatever he (bin Laden) might want to
    utter in tape, it causes me no great concern," he added.


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