August 4, 2005
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
Fox News
Photo: Al-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri is seen in this image taken from the video broadcast Thursday by Al-Jazeera.
In a videotape broadcast Thursday, Al-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said British Prime Minister Tony Blair was to blame for the London bombings and that Blair’s support of the U.S.-led war in Iraq would incite further attacks.
“Blair has brought to you destruction in central London, and he will bring more of that, God willing,” al-Zawahri said in the tape, while never claiming responsibility for the July 7 bombings. The statement was broadcast on the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera.
Referring to the Western nations like Britain that have contributed troops in Iraq, he said: “As to the nations of the crusader alliance, we have offered you a truce if you leave the land of Islam.”
“Hasn't Sheik Osama bin Laden told you that you will not dream of security before there is security in Palestine and before all the infidel armies withdraw from the land of Muhammed?” al-Zawahri asked, referring to the leader of the al-Qaida network.
“Our message is clear: you will not be safe until you withdraw from our land, stop stealing our oil and wealth and stop supporting the corrupt rulers,” he said.
Some past messages preceded attack
On at least nine previous occasions since 1998, an al-Zawahri statement has preceded an attack. The interval between the statement and the attack varied from one day to 10 weeks.
The July 7 London bombings came after al-Zawahri, in a June 17 statement, disparaged the U.S. concept of reform in the Middle East and said armed jihad was the only way to bring change in the Arab world.
In London, Blair’s Downing Street office declined to comment on the broadcast.
Al-Zawahri, an Egyptian doctor who merged his militant faction with al-Qaida in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, spoke with a Kalashnikov rifle propped up behind him against a plain background.
He has been in hiding since the United States invaded Afghanistan in late 2001.
The video was aired as London police beefed up patrols of the city's sprawling transit system four weeks after four bombs killed 56 people.
Suspect to remain in custody
Also Thursday, a British court ordered the first person to be charged in connection with the failed July 21 bomb attacks to remain in custody.
Ismael Abdurahman, 23, from southeast London, spoke only to confirm his name and age during a 10-minute hearing before being led to jail.
He faces charges of withholding information that helped suspected subway bomber Hamdi Issac initially avoid capture. Issac was later detained in Rome and is being held on international terrorism charges. Italian court officials on Thursday said an extradition hearing would be held Aug. 17.
Abdurahman’s attorney, Anne Faul, said her client was innocent. “The defendant will be and is vigorously contesting the charges,” she said. “He has no involvement in terrorist activity whatsoever.”
NYPD officials reveal London bombing details
Show of force
The massive security operation Thursday involving 6,000 officers was intended to reassure the public four weeks after the July 7 attacks and two weeks after the failed July 21 attacks.
Officials stressed there was no specific intelligence of a third attack, but undercover police were mingling with passengers, and officers were armed with machine guns and pistols. Police helicopters hovered above while traffic was heavier than normal.
“It’s a little bit eerie,” said Rosalyn Cooper, 23, before she got on the Tube. “You can’t help thinking about when it will happen again.”
London transport authorities on Thursday also opened the Piccadilly Line, the subway line that was worst-hit in the July 7 attacks, easing disruption on the network that carries some 3 million passengers a day.
“The return of the Piccadilly line is a major step as the Underground and London get back to normal,” London Underground Managing Director Tim O’Toole said.
Transport for London, the public body that runs the Underground, said passenger numbers had dipped by 30 percent on weekends and by between 5 percent and 15 percent on weekdays since July 7.
Meanwhile, some $14.2 million has been raised through charitable donations to help victims of the July 7 attacks. The London Bombings Relief Charitable Fund said bereaved relatives would receive payments of $8,900, while people who were injured and spent a night in hospital will receive $5,300.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8807560/