The SITE Institute has details of the new al Qaeda audiotape:

The speech, 20:31 in length, is titled: “Come to a Word that is Just Between Us and You,” which is taken from the Qur’an, Surah al-Imran, verse 64. On the occasion of the month of Ramadan, al-Muhajir calls upon every “free Mujahid” to come to Iraq and engage in jihad, which the emir hopes to increase in ferocity. He states: “It pleases me at the end of my speech to announce the beginning of a great militaristic campaign by the name of the clear conquest, by it we will eradicate the limb of the infidel and the apostate”.

In the middle of the speech, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir reminds of the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdul Rahman, and encourages the Mujahideen to capture some of the “Roman dogs” so as to secure his release from the “darkness of his prison, gratitude, loyalty and love.” He then calls upon the sheikhs of the Sunni tribes in Iraq to not slacken in their support for the Mujahideen and thanks them for their public stance, finance and men.

AP brief on Fox News.com:

The new leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq urged Muslims to make the holy month of Ramadan a “month of holy war,” in an audiotape posted on Islamic Web site Thursday.

The man on the tape identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir — also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri — the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, though the voice could not be independently identified. He is believed to have succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who died in a U.S. airstrike north of Baghdad in June.

“I congratulate the Muslim nation on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, the month of jihad (holy war). I ask God to make it a month for honor and victory for Muslims,” the voice said.

More details on the call to kidnap Westerners and use dirty bombs via Yahoo! News:

Al Qaeda’s leader in
Iraq called for the kidnapping of Westerners to swap for a Muslim cleric jailed in the United States, according to an Internet audio tape issued on Thursday. “I call on every holy fighter in Iraq to strive during this holy month (Ramadan)… to capture some dogs of the Christians so that we can liberate our imprisoned sheik,” said the speaker, identified as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.

He accused U.S. jailers of “torturing” Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman, held over links to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.

The speaker also called for attacks on U.S. military camps in Iraq using “unconventional bombs such as biological and dirty bombs.”

Tigerhawk gives props to Rahman’s prosecutor, NRO blogger extraordinaire Andy McCarthy, and asks a very good question:

If al Qaeda’s exploitation of the Iraq war to promote terrorism constitutes evidence that we should not have invaded Iraq, is its exploitation of our prosecution of terrorists, also to promote terrorism, evidence that we should not prosecute terrorists? If not, why not?

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