TheByte

Rob

Al-Qaeda vows to hurt Obama's US
The second-in-command of Islamic militant network al-Qaeda has called on Muslims to harm "criminal" America.

In a message purportedly from Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda deputy accused US President-elect Barack Obama of betraying his Muslim roots.
He likened him to a "house slave" - who had chosen to align himself with the "enemies" of Islam.

Mr Obama has said stamping out al-Qaeda "once and for all" will be a top priority during his administration.
On Sunday, he said capturing or killing Osama Bin Laden was "critical" to US security.

He has also promised to bolster the US presence in Afghanistan - a policy that would fail, said the al-Qaeda deputy. The US said the message did not signal any increased threat against America.


This is undoubtedly a message aimed at sustaining anti-American sentiment among Muslims in the face of Barack Obama's election, says the BBC's defence correspondent Rob Watson.
But it is a risky approach, our correspondent says.

Barack Obama is hugely popular world-wide and his colour and background make him a much tougher target to attack than President George W Bush in the eyes of a global audience, he says.

'Trespassing crusader'

Zawahiri, an Egyptian by birth, is often referred to as Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man and the chief ideologue of al-Qaeda.
The audio message, which ran with photographic stills and some video footage, appeared on militant websites.
Mr Obama's election did not mean that US policy towards the Muslim world had changed, Ayman al-Zawahiri said, according to the 11-minute message.


He warned Mr Obama of failure if he followed the policies of the Bush administration.

The change of leadership in the US did not mean that America should be perceived differently, he added.

"America, the criminal, trespassing crusader, continues to be the same as ever, so we must continue to harm it in order for it to come to its senses," he said.

Zawahiri also criticised Mr Obama - whose father is Muslim - for betraying the Islamic world.

"You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of leadership in America," he said.

Mr Obama was not an "honourable black American" like Malcolm X, he said, but an "abeed al-beit" - a word that translates as house slave but was rendered "house negro" in the message's English subtitles.

The audio was accompanied by footage of a speech by Malcolm X in which he distinguished between "field negroes" who hated their white masters and "house negroes" who, he said, were loyal to them.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack described the message as "more despicable comments from a terrorist".

Mr Obama visited Israel in July and expressed his "abiding commitment" to its security.

On Sunday, in his first television interview since his 4 November election win, he reiterated his commitment to shift more US troops to bolster the military presence in Afghanistan.
The last message purporting to be from Zawahiri emerged on 8 September. He is thought to be in hiding in the Afghan-Pakistan border area.

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Al-Qaeda vows to hurt Obama's US

Rob

Al Qaeda Declares War on Obama
By Judith Miller
Writer/FOX News Contributor

Al Qaeda has officially added President-elect Barack Obama to its enemies list. In the terrorist group’s first video message to Obama since his election, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda’s number two, calls Obama a “House Negro” who “claims” to be Christian to be elected to high office. The new video says that because Obama has chosen to support Israel and has threatened to strike Pakistan and send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, he has decided to continue “the crimes of the American crusade.”

This is militant Islam’s version of the welcome mat. And it shows that Al-Qaeda has apparently taken Obama at his word when the president-elect vowed to “defeat” the militant Taliban and organizations like Al Qaeda and hunt down Usama bin Laden.

The 11-minute, 23 second video in Arabic with English subtitles, contrasts what Zawahiri calls “House Negroes” like Obama –- along with Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, who preceded her –- with Al-Qaeda’s hero –- Malcolm X, or Malik al-Shabazz, as the video repeatedly calls him — Obama’s “exact opposite.” In fact, Zawahiri apparently borrowed the term “House Negroes” from Malcolm X. According to the Associated Press, the video includes footage of Malcom X’s speeches in which he argues that black slaves who worked in their white masters’ houses were more servile and less confrontational than slaves who worked in the fields.

Zawahiri also says that by choosing to abandon the faith of his Muslim father in favor of Christianity and to continue waging America’s War on Terror –- albeit by different methods –- Obama has agreed to “pray the prayer of the Jews.” As such, Zawahiri says, Obama has become “captive” to the “same criminal American mentality towards the world and towards Muslims.”

In case anyone misses the point of this diatribe (widely distributed today on Arab television networks), the video portrays Obama wearing a yarmulke — a Jewish skullcap.

The video is a stark declaration of war on the incoming president, though it stops short of threatening him personally. Instead, Zawahiri taunts Obama, encouraging him to be “stubborn about America’s failure in Afghanistan” by sending in more troops. Remember the fate of the Soviets and British before them among the Afghans, he says: “The dogs of Afghanistan have found the flesh of your soldiers to be delicious, so send thousands after thousands of them.”

Al Qaeda apparently does not accept Obama’s “one president at a time” policy. Zawahiri holds Obama personally responsible for the aerial attack last Monday on “Afghan Muslims at a wedding party in Kandahar.” (Pentagon spokesmen have said that such strikes target Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists hiding among civilians).

President Bush and President-elect Obama had starkly different reactions today to Al Qaeda’s welcome message. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, accustomed to such insults to the president and threats to America, dismissed Zawahiri’s latest message as merely “more despicable comments from a terrorist.”

President-elect Obama’s PTT –- Presidential Transition Team –- issued no comment, choosing yet again to speak softly, or in this case, not at all, knowing that America wields a very big stick. But Obama adviser Richard Clarke, a counter-terrorism official in the Clinton and Bush White Houses who repeatedly tried to warn both his bosses before 9/11 about the danger posed by Al Qaeda, suggested today that the video smacked of desperation. “Obama’s election,” he said, “has taken the wind out of Al Qaeda’s sails in much of the Islamic world” by proving yet again that democracy can “overcome ethnic, sectarian, or racial barriers” and by renewing America’s “commitment to multiculturalism, human rights, and international law.”

While Zawahiri says that Obama’s vow to withdraw from Iraq is a victory for the “Muslim Ummah” or the world’s Muslims, including, presumably American Muslims, it is also an admission of America’s “defeat in Iraq.” But Clarke argues that Obama’s pledge to withdraw from Iraq denies Al Qaeda a key “propaganda tenet: that the U.S. seeks to occupy oil- rich Arab lands.” Moreover, Obama’s election, says Clarke, “sets Al Qaeda back enormously in the battle of ideas –the ideological struggle which will determine whether Al Qaeda will continue to have significant support in the Islamic world.”

Or as Arabic speakers say: “Inshallah.”

Al Qaeda Declares War on Obama FOX Forum FOXNews.com

Rob

Al-Qaeda leader killed in U.S. missile strike
Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: Three days after the Washington Post reported Pakistan had given the U.S. the green light to carry out missile strikes inside its tribal areas, a suspected U.S. unmanned aircraft carried out yet another raid in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan.

AFP reported that a senior Al-Qaeda operative was among five people killed in the strike by a drone that targeted a house in Bannu, North-West Frontier Province, in the early hours of Wednesday.

The Al-Qaeda operative was identified as an Arab named Abdullah Azam Al-Saudi, a senior commander involved in recruiting and training fighters. Earlier this month, a missile strike in North Waziristan is said to have killed Al-Qaeda’s propaganda chief, an Egyptian identified as Abu Jihad Al-Masri. The Washington Post said on Sunday the U.S. and Pakistan had reached an understanding that allows U.S. drone attacks inside Pakistan’s tribal areas, and enables Islamabad to protest against them without fear of contradiction. The report was denied by the Foreign Office, and separately in Parliament by the Foreign and Information Ministers.

The newspaper said the understanding had led to the suspension of ground attacks by U.S. troops in Pakistani soil, after one on September 3 in South Waziristan, which provoked a strong reaction from Pakistan and, for the first time, Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

While there have been no more ground incursions since August, U.S. missiles have struck in the tribal areas at the rate of one or two a week regardless of protests by Pakistan that it is a violation of its sovereignty.

In a sign of increasing cooperation, the U.S. military is reported to have launched a coordinated operation with Pakistani forces to put pressure on militants on the Afghan border. A U.S. military commander said the operation, named “Lionheart,” took the cooperation between the U.S., Pakistani and Afghan forces to the “next level” of intelligence sharing and coordination. Colonel John Spiszer, who commands 3,000 troops in Afghanistan, said the cooperation developing between the U.S. and Pakistani forces was a “major success

The Hindu : International : Al-Qaeda leader killed in U.S. missile strike

Beemer B773ER

These al-qaeda d***heads need to shut the freakin' hell up and learn to get over sh!t!

You'd think these idiots who preach god in nearly every sentence they speak would have some level of wisdom and maturity.

They use the excuse of spirituality with god,...pity they can't just stage their own "Jamestown" and spare the world their stupid threats!

The Artist

You see they are making money now..and controling lifes..
Its a buisness now..
Not just a terrorist movement..

So this will be a looong battle.. which can be won by obama..if he plays his cards right

And i sure hope he does

Mikael

Al-Qaeda is probably just concerned because they don't get enough air time on the American TV channels. Soon we will most likely see a show like "Late Night with Al-Zawahiri" or "The Al-Zawahiri Factor".

verdigojunky

To the coran, yes Obama has betrayed muslims only in that one muslim is not allowed to fight against an other. On the other hand it works both ways. Now that we have a president that had muslim roots, should they fight any americans they too are violating their own teachings! Lets just see how hypocritical these terrorists are.

In a few months I will be deployed to Afganistan, and you can bet I won't give them any more courtacy than I have too. I am Jewish by birth and christian by choice. That makes them my enemy more than once!

Gullwing

My brother in law is going to Afganistan in a few weeks.

Give them hell

The Artist

FYI its spelled Quran..
Thought that might come in handy in afghanistan..
Good luck

Rob

What about the Muslim American soldiers?

The 'Team America ...fuck yeah!' attitude is not what will win the war against Islamist terrorism. Most Arab Muslims hate terrorism as much as any westerner, but the US and the coalition have not made many friends with the 'War on Terror'. Although most Muslims would never consider Al-Qaeda to represent true Islam, there are many who do hate the US for its support of Israel.