Al Qaeda Gets Dissed by Iran

Snop's Commentary: Iran trashes Al Qaeda's brand image by questioning the terror group's role in the 911 attacks through their Shiite surrogates in Lebanon. Hezbollah used its mouth piece, Al-Manar, to make the outrageous claim that Israel was behind the attacks.

From the LA Times Blog Babyon and Beyond:

MIDDLE EAST: Al Qaeda speaks again
Raed Rafei in Beirut12:29 PM PT, Apr 23 2008

Al Qaeda struggles to show that it still has its fingers on the pulse of the world, even as it hides out in the rocky mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

The latest presumptive audio recording by Al Qaeda's No. 2 seems to suggest that the Islamist organization is striving to stay relevant.

In the extensive two-hour message posted on the Internet Tuesday, Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, particularly lashed out at the Iranians for their ambitions in Iraq and the Arab region, as well as their attempts to discredit the Sunni Islamist group.

He attacked the Iranians for allegedly seeking out the takeover of southern Iraq and Shiite parts of Saudi Arabia.

He warned that if Iran achieves its goals, it will "blow up the situation in an already exploding region."

In answers to hundreds of electronic queries made by Al Qaeda supporters, he tried to exploit the Sunni-Shiite rift in the Middle East. He accused Iran's ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, of launching a propaganda campaign against the group.

According to the Al Qaeda official, Hezbollah's TV station Al-Manar has been propagating the conspiracy theory that Israel was behind the Sept. 11 attacks against the World Trade Center:

The purpose of this lie is clear. [It infers] that there are no heroes among the Sunnis who can hurt America... Iranian media picked up this lie and repeated it... Iran's aim here is also clear, that is to cover up its involvement with America in invading the homes of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Zawahiri also lambasted the Palestinian militant group Hamas, another of Tehran's allies, for allegedly considering future peace treaties with Israel.

One New York-based analyst, Micah Halpern, commented on his website about the competition between Al Qaeda and Iran:
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Al Qaeda and Iran hate one another. Zawahiri has spoken time and again about the intentions of Iran to hijack the Muslim agenda and take charge of the Muslim world… Through his audio preachings Zawahiri is promoting the good that Sunni al Qaeda brings to the Muslim word. It is al Qaeda, says Zawahiri, who is fighting against Western evil.

Lebanon featured prominently in Zawahiri's audiotape — the country was branded as a "Muslim frontline fort." The Al Qaeda official delivered a "bad omen" about Lebanon — as one Lebanese politician described his declarations — predicting a "pivotal role" for the country in future battles against Israel and the international peacekeeping troops stationed in the south of the country.

Zawahiri went even beyond his usual political issues by commenting on the deterioration of the world's environment. He blamed global warming on the "greediness" and "brutality" of the Western world with the U.S. on top, adding that this phenomenon "would make the world more sympathetic to and understanding of the Muslims' jihad against the aggressor America."

Al Qaeda Continues its Downward Slide in Iraq and Beyond

Snop's Commentary

More proof that Al Qaeda's stock is continuing to plummet.

Ayman al Zawahiri sounds like he is getting frustrated with the lack of Muslims willing to rally to the Al Qaeda banner in Iraq in order to embrace the terror group's goals as part of a wider global insurgency.

Moreover, To prove that all politics are local, Hamas flirted with ex-President Jimmy Carter's entreaties to work with Israel be it indirectly to settle their disputes. The mere thought of accommodating Israel in any way was enough to set off Al Qaeda's chief ideologue.

Maybe the ex-Pres did us a favor in spite of the Bush administrations calls for him to not to meet with Hamas' exiled chief Khaled Meshaal. If in fact, he caused a cleavage to open up or helped identify a preexisting one between the two terror groups-the ex Pres unwittingly discovered a weakness worth exploiting in order to promote inter-militant Islamic discord.

Read all about it here (Full Article)

Better Late Then Never: Zawahiri responds

Al-Zawahiri says al-Qaeda does not kill innocent people

Snop's Commentary: -say what?



Dubai, 3 April (AKI) - Al-Qaeda's No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri has rejected criticism that the terror network's attacks have killed innocent people.

"Al-Qaeda does not kill civilians, if it does happens it's by mistake," said al-Zawahiri in a 90-minute audio message posted on the Internet late Wednesday night.

The message was in response to the hundreds of questions put to al-Qaeda on Islamic forums on the Internet between December and January.

"I have tried to group the questions with the aim of dividing them in terms of subject and importance," said the al-Qaeda leader in the audio message. "The first group of questions which I would like to start with refer to the theme of the killing of innocent people."

Al-Zawahiri began by addressing a question posted by a "Mudarrisu Geografia" which asked: "Dear Mr. Zawahiri, when killing Jews with your blessing such as those who were targeted with the attacks in Baghdad and Algiers, is it part of your Jihad to kill the children, women and innocent civilians who also die?"

Why not do this in Tel Aviv and carry out attacks in Israel instead of targeting Muslim countries?"

In response, al-Zawahiri said: "We do not kill civilians anywhere."

"If innocent people die in the attacks by the mujahadeen it is an unforseeable event and happens by mistake. We fight the enemies of Islam and if something like this happens in the process it is because the enemy uses the civilians as human shields," he said.

As for attacks against Israeli or Jewish targets, al-Zawahiri said that al-Qaeda has hit "the synagogue in Jerba in Tunisia, attacked a group of Jewish tourists in Mombasa in Kenya and launched missiles against the Israeli El-Al airline."

He also cited the last message released by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden when he said that once the war in Iraq has ended, the mujahadeen will head towards Jerusalem.

He also said that al-Qaeda has attacked the United States, Britain and Spain.

Al-Qaeda's No. 2 defended the attacks carried out on the United Nations offices in Baghdad and Algiers, saying the UN 's work "covers actions conducted against Muslims of the world".

"The UN is considered an enemy if Islam and so we can carry out attacks on its buildings," he said.

The attack on the UN office in Algiers last December killed 41 people while 22 people were killed in the attack targeting the UN in Baghdad in 2003.

Al-Zawahiri also spoke about the health of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

"Sheikh Osama is in good health," he said, adding that the news about his illness is "only propaganda".

Al-Zawahiri also called for attacks on Jews both inside and outside Israel.

"We promise our Muslim brothers that we will do our utmost to strike Jewish people in Israel and abroad with help and guidance from God," he said.

Reports say some 900 questions were posted to al-Qaeda through the websites linked to the group."

I would like to thank all of those who responded to the open debate with me by our production arm, Al-Sahab, and in particular those who operate within the media Jihad," al-Zawahiri said in the message.

The al-Qaeda leader apologised for taking so long to respond to the questions that had been posted to the group by al-Qaeda supporters and those curious about the terror network.