The following is a transcript, originally in Arabic, of a 34-minute video of Osama bin Laden that was mailed to al Jazeera from unknown sources in Pakistan. It was aired in part on December 26, 2001, and later in full on December 27, 2001, on al Jazeera satellite stations within a program known as “First War of the Century.” The text was translated by Justin Kitchens.

Thursday, 27 Dec. 2001, 18:12 GMT

Praise be to God; we praise him, seek help from him, ask his forgiveness, and seek refuge with God from our own evils and the sins of our making. Who is led by God shall not be misguided, and who is misguided cannot be led by any. I witness that there is no god but Allah, that he is one with no partner, and I witness that Muhammad is his servant and prophet.

And so, after the passing of three months since the blessed strikes against world infidelity and against the head of infidelity, America, and after the passing of almost two months since the fierce Crusade against Islam, it seems appropriate to us to comment on some of the details of these events.

These events revealed many matters of utmost importance to Muslims. It is now clear that the West in general and America at the forefront is carrying an indescribable Crusader's spite against Islam. Those who have lived these months under continuous bombardment from multiple kinds of American planes know that this is the truth.