Senior Iraqi Insurgent Declares:
“We Will Not Be Intimidated”

THE AFFILIATED PRESS
Reported by Adam Young
by Adam Young

BAGHDAD – In a videotaped statement today, the well-known war criminal named Tani al-Balar, the second-in-command, and self-described “Prime Minister of the World Jihad for Arab and Islamic Democracy” said this evening that the Iraqi people would not be intimidated by terrorism after four bombings killed at least 50 people and injured over 700 hundred more across Iraq.

In a televised statement, the “prime minister” intimated he believed invading terrorists, homicide gunmen, mercenaries and foreign helicopters were responsible for the attacks.

"We know that these people act in the name of democracy but we also know that the vast and overwhelming majority of people in the home countries of these terrorists are decent and law-abiding people who abhor those who do this every bit as much as we do," he said.

"I think we all know what they are trying to do,” He continued. “They are trying to use the slaughter of innocent people to cow us, to frighten us out of doing the things that we want to do, trying to stop us from going about our business as normal, as we are entitled to do and they should not and they must not succeed.”

Al’Bahar also directly challenged the terrorists who he claimed “have invaded Iraq and plunged our country into chaos” and warned that the resistance to their violent methods would not falter and that they would not win:

"When they try to intimidate us, we will not be intimidated. When they seek to change our country or our way of life by these methods, we will not be changed."

Mr Balar also paid tribute to the resilience of the people of Iraq and said the terrorists must not be allowed to succeed.

"There are obviously casualties, both people who have died and people who are seriously injured, and our thoughts and prayers, of course, are with the victims and their families.

"It is a very sad day for the Iraqi people but we will hold true to the Iraqi way of life," he said.

With additional reporting by Matthew Tempest, Ian J Griffiths and agencies.

July 9, 2005

Adam Young [send him mail] is a freelance Austro-libertarian writer and reviewer and lives in Canada.

Copyright © 2005 The Affiliated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, redistributed, rewritten, plagiarized, reworded, imitated, satirized or expropriated.

Adam Young Archives