Al-Qaeda Not Involved, Says Bin Laden

The following is a small portion of an interview conducted by a "special correspondent" for the Pakistani newspaper, Ummat, which was published on Sept. 28. The place and the date of interview were not given.

[ Ed. Notes : In light of the U.S. media's self-imposed censorship of Bin Laden's statements, I believe you will find Osama Bin Laden's comments interesting. Anytime criticism is leveled, we must examine our heart and actions to see if any part be true and make corrections accordingly-the U.S. included. If Osama is not guilty of the 9/11 attack, according to news reports he is guilty of other attacks, and is still deserving of what he is getting. The question is, did he commit the 9/11 attack? The full interview can be found at www.khilafah.com.

Osama Bin Laden: "I have already said that I am not involved in the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

"As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children, and other humans as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children, and other people .

Such a practice is forbidden ever in the course of a battle.

What had earlier been done [by the United States] to the innocent people of Iraq, Chechnya, and Bosnia?

The U.S. has no friends, nor does it want to keep any because the prerequisite of friendship is to come to the level of the friend or consider him on par with you. America does not want to see anyone equal to it. It expects slavery from others .

I have already said that we are against the American system, not against its people , whereas in these attacks, the common American people have been killed.

According to my information, the death toll is much higher than what the U.S. Government has stated . But the Bush administration does not want panic to spread. The United States should look within itself for the perpetrators of these attacks: those people who are part of the U.S. system , but are dissenting against it. Or those who are working for some other system; persons who want to make the present century as a century of conflict between Islam and Christianity so that their own civilization, nation, country, or ideology can survive.

Then there are intelligence agencies in the U.S., which require billions of dollars from Congress and the government every year. This [funding issue] was not a big problem while Soviet Union was in existence but, after that, the budget of these agencies has been in danger. They needed an enemy. So, they first started propaganda against Osama and the Taliban and then this incident happened .

You see: the Bush administration approved a budget of $40 billion. Where will this huge amount go? It will be provided to the same agencies, which need huge funds and want to exert their importance. Now they will spend the money for their expansion and for increasing their importance.

I will give you an example. Drug smugglers from all over the world are in contact with the U.S. secret agencies. These agencies do not want to eradicate narcotics cultivation and trafficking because their importance will be diminished. The people in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Department are encouraging drug trade so that they could show performance and get millions of dollars worth of budget ."