Al-Qaida deputy goes online to justify attacks

Frosty

Al-Qaida has pulled off a propaganda coup by answering questions put to it by hundreds of people invited to take part in an online "open meeting" with Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

In the internet Q&A Zawahiri insisted that his organisation does not kill innocent people and justified attacks against "Crusaders", Jews, and their agents and allies in Arab lands. Al-Qaida's chief ideologue also predicted that "jihadi influence" will spread "to Jerusalem" after the Americans leave Iraq and attacked the UN as "the enemy of Islam", defending the bombing of its offices in Iraq and Algeria. Bin Laden, he claimed, is "healthy and well".

Zawahiri, thought to be in hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan, regularly appears in video or audio clips, but this is the first time he has responded to questions posted on online Islamist forums. The exercise was announced last December by al-Qaida's media arm, al-Sahab, with media outlets invited to take part.

The 90-minute audio tape was released on to subscriber-only Arabic-language websites with hundreds of links on free file-sharing sites allowing users to download the material. It was accompanied by an English transcript.

"It's the first time the al-Qaida leadership has done a Q&A session," said Brynjar Lia, a Norwegian jihad specialist. "Zawahiri wants to overcome the isolation forced on him by circumstances and talk to his fan club like any star ... It shows how they like to comment on current events and present al-Qaida as a force in international affairs."

Zawahiri ignored questions submitted by the Guardian but replied to several others about attacks targeting civilians.

"We haven't killed innocents, not in Baghdad, nor in Morocco, nor in Algeria, nor anywhere else," he told a questioner identified as an Algerian medical student. "And if there is any innocent who was killed in the mujahideens' operations, then it was either an unintentional error or out of necessity."

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for December's attacks on the UN office and the Constitutional Council building in Algiers, which killed more than 60 people, including 17 UN workers. "The UN is an enemy of Islam and Muslims. It is the one which codified and legitimised the setting up of the state of Israel and its taking over of the Muslims' lands," he said.

Zawahiri seemed defensive over a question about why al-Qaida had not attacked Israel. He replied that the group had attacked a synagogue in Tunisia, bombed a Kenyan hotel where Israeli tourists were staying and fired missiles at an Israeli airliner taking off from Mombasa, Kenya.

Analysts say al-Qaida is uncomfortable relating to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which is fighting a nationalist struggle rather than being part of the global jihadi effort. Zawahiri also criticised the militant Lebanese Shia movement Hizbullah for agreeing to a "Crusader" presence - a UN force.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/04/alqaida

I found the last sentence very interesting.

Christofaux

I wonder if he would come on line to play counter strike with me.

Steev

One day, all disagreements will be settled this way.

holyland red

The bits I found most interesting were thoseabout killing Jews and crusaders... not zionists or imperialist Yanks, but simply whoever does not share a common religious belief with the muslim brothers.

topper

it appears this lot have a particularly low tolerance level towards anybody not thinking as they do

Lizard King

I haven't read the article, but if he's using the internet - can they not trace where he is?

Isn't he a wanted man?

topper

I just saw on SSN that some suicide bomber in Baghdad blew himself up at a funeral and killed 18 plus people - FFS what sort of mindset are the people who instigate/approve these actions

holyland red

They release those statements on Sultan's shifts, and he won't reveal their cave IP to the authorities.

Sultan

The IP address is designated to the bullshit department at Whitehall.

spinoza

Same excuse, different murderer.

Sultan

If the story is true, it mostly likely will be a mobile connection.

Sultan

Not surprising at all Frosty.

Hizbullah being a nationalist Shia organisation, I reckon it's a religious rivalry.

McCool

I wonder if I would think the same way as Zawahiri if I had been brought up in the same way.

I like to think I would not, but how can I be sure?

This isn't intolerance; it is hatred.

Bloody mentalists.

marcus agrippa

the real mind-job is he'd probably wonder the same thing about you.

VidaRed

he's the scum of the world along with all the other terrorists.

yanks are idiots for invading wrong nations...where was terrorism introduced first -> pakistan and most probably all the big name terrorists are hiding there but nothing is being done.

Ballache

hell they even want to kill non-Sunni Muslims...