I originally posted a link & excerpt on Tuesday to an
article appearing on the Middle East Online's website, concerning a new Al Qaeda threat to European nations failing to withdraw from Iraq by August 15. Since, I've read virtually nothing on the matter, despite Thursday's failed bomb attempts and the attacks in Egypt earlier. Below are excerpts from other reports I've culled.
First, the Middle East Online's article:
"This message is the final warning to European states. We want to give you a one-month deadline to bring your soldiers out from the land of Mesopotamia (Iraq)," said the statement signed by Al-Qaeda group the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades and dated July 16.
After August 15, "there will be no more messages, just actions that will be engraved on the heart of Europe.
"It will be a bloody war in the service of God," said the statement, the authenticity of which could not be verified.
This is reportedly from the same website where the statement claiming responsibilty for the 7/7 bombings were posted.
Later:
"It's a message we are addressing to the crusaders who are still present in Iraq -- Denmark, the Netherlands, Britain, Italy and those other countries whose troops continue to criss-cross Iraqi territory."
...
"After the laudable strikes that have shaken London and the cities of other Crusaders still present in Iraq, we have renewed the ultimatum that we had given," the statement said.
"We give you all one month to reflect carefully on your policy towards Islam and Muslims.
"We're giving you this deadline so that you stop running behind the United States and the Zionists, without paying attention to the blood that has been shed and continues to be shed in the land of Islam -- in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine."
Allheadlinenews.com adds the following:
The authenticity of the statement is currently being investigated by Scotland Yard as well as the C.I.A.
If confirmed, this only confirms what the majority of British citizens suspect, that the UK's involvement in the Iraq war seriously dangers their national security. UK government officials have largely downplayed the connection.
Coincidentally, August 15 is also the day Israel has agreed to begin withdrawal from Gaza.