Bin Laden backs Zarqawi as al-Qaida head i

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Al-Qaida leader Ousama bin Laden praised Monday Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi as the head of the organization in Iraq and forbidden participation in the upcoming Iraqi elections as sort of "infidelity."

In an audio tape broadcast by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite television station and monitored in Beirut, Bin Laden praised the "daring" attacks carried out by al Zarqawi's group against U.S. forces and the temporary government of Iyad Allawi in Iraq.

He described Al Zarqawi as "the Mujahed Emir, dignified brother" and said "the groups affiliated with him are good and from the group that fights according to the orders of God."

"It should be known that Mujahed brother Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi is the emir of the Al-Qa'idah for Jihad Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers. The brothers in the group there should heed his orders and obey him in all that which is good," bin Laden said.

He warmly welcomed "the union" of al Zarqawi's followers with al- Qaida Organization, describing it as "a great step toward rendering successful the efforts of the Mujahidin to establish the state of right and annihilate the state of injustice. We hope that God will accept and bless this step>'

Bin Laden, furthermore, called for boycotting the Iraqi elections scheduled on January 30.

He lashed out at former Civilian Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority Paul Bremer who imposed "a man-made, secular constitution and insisted that Islam should not be the sole source of legislation."

He went on saying that such a Constitution, according to Islam, "is an infidel Constitution" even if "the source of 90 per cent of the laws is the Islamic Shari'ah (law) and the source of 10 per cent is man-made legislation."

"Based on that, whoever participates, knowingly and willingly, in the elections we have just described, becomes a non-believer," bin Laden said, warning of what he called "impostors who speak in the name of Islamic parties and groups, urging people to participate in this defiant apostasy."

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