Now, I haven't heard a peep about this latest Osama bin Laden audiotape and certainly don't know if it has been verified to be him or not but to me it is an amazing showcase of just how far down the once feared al Qaeda leader has spiraled in 10 years. This new audiotape literally is that of bin Laden threatening to kill two French journalists unless France leaves the Afghanistan War - two journalist hostages....that's the kind of ransom statement made by a bunch of newbie Taliban scampering around the Afghan countryside.
Here's from the audiotape transcript from over at DAWN:
Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden said the release of two French hostages in Afghanistan depends on a French pullout and warned Paris of a “high price” for its policies, in an audiotape broadcast on Friday.
“We repeat the same message to you: The release of your prisoners in the hands of our brothers is linked to the withdrawal of your soldiers from our country,” the speaker on the tape broadcast on al Jazeera television warned.
Cameraman Stephane Taponier and reporter Herve Ghesquiere, who work for France 3 public television, were seized along with three Afghan colleagues in December 2009 in an area northeast of Kabul.
Bin Laden, addressing the French people, said: “The refusal of your president to withdraw from Afghanistan is the result of his obedience of America and this refusal is a green light to kill your prisoners…but we will not do this at a timing that suits him.”
Now, there is probably more on the audiotape than just this in regards to France but you have to admit, the leverage of bin Laden over France isn't all that great right now - I mean, TWO hostages? After 9/11, France was told they were going to meet the same fate as America with the same kind of attack that killed 3,000 Americans and even at that time, the French told bin Laden to go pound sand...does he expect a full withdrawal from Afghanistan cause they have two journalists?
Osama links French hostages’ fate to Afghan pullout
DUBAI: Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden said the release of two French hostages in Afghanistan depends on a French pullout and warned Paris of a “high price” for its policies, in an audiotape broadcast on Friday.
“We repeat the same message to you: The release of your prisoners in the hands of our brothers is linked to the withdrawal of your soldiers from our country,” the speaker on the tape broadcast on al Jazeera television warned.
Cameraman Stephane Taponier and reporter Herve Ghesquiere, who work for France 3 public television, were seized along with three Afghan colleagues in December 2009 in an area northeast of Kabul.
Bin Laden, addressing the French people, said: “The refusal of your president to withdraw from Afghanistan is the result of his obedience of America and this refusal is a green light to kill your prisoners…but we will not do this at a timing that suits him.”
Bin Laden warned that French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s stand would “cost him” and the people of France “a high price on different fronts, inside and outside France”.
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