The London Blasts: Al Qaeda Statement

LONDON: THE CLAIM OF RESPONSIBILITY

1) The Statement

2) The Link To Iraq

3) The Alleged 'Mistranslation' Of The Qur'an

1) The Statement

A claim of responsibility has been made for the London atrocities on an al Qaeda-linked website. The BBC translation goes as follows:

In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate, may peace be upon the cheerful one and undaunted fighter, Prophet Muhammad, God's peace be upon him.

Nation of Islam and Arab nation: Rejoice for it is time to take revenge against the British Zionist Crusader government in retaliation for the massacres Britain is committing in Iraq and Afghanistan. The heroic mujahideen have carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern, and western quarters.

We have repeatedly warned the British Government and people. We have fulfilled our promise and carried out our blessed military raid in Britain after our mujahideen exerted strenuous efforts over a long period of time to ensure the success of the raid.

We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all the Crusader governments that they will be punished in the same way if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. He who warns is excused.

God says: "You who believe: If ye will aid (the cause of) Allah, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly."

2) The Link To Iraq

Note that the statement (which may or may not be genuine) links the attacks directly to Britain's participation in the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan: 'it is time to take revenge against the British Zionist Crusader government in retaliation for the massacres Britain is committing in Iraq and Afghanistan.'

Note also that the statement warns Denmark and Italy and other governments governments 'that they will be punished in the same way if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.' If the statement is genuine, then this means there is a political demand behind the bombing. There is a way to bring these kinds of atrocities to an end.

3) The Alleged 'Mistranslation' Of The Qur'an

It has been alleged that the final sentence in the statement misquotes the Qur'an (the former transliteration was 'Koran'). Thus the report on Michael Moore's website based on a comment by the MSNBC translator. The verdict of Juan Cole, Iraq expert, is that the alleged misquotation did not occur:

The perpetrator 'is very likely the "Qaeda al-Jihad in Europe" group that claimed responsibility immediately. Their statement appeared very quickly after the bombings and yet had none of the appearance of being rushed. That suggests it was carefully composed before the fact. The rumors that the statement has errors in the Arabic or the Quran citation are absolutely incorrect, and al-Sharq al-Awsat came to the same conclusion in its Saturday edition.'