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| Terror Networks |
| Qaeda deputy Zawahiri releases video in English |
| 2008-08-11 |
| Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second-in-command to Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, has released his first English-language video call for jihad in Pakistan, the US-based IntelCenter said Sunday. The message was aired on Pakistan's ARY television network, IntelCenter said in a statement, adding that it marked "the first official message ever ... in which he speaks English." Zawahiri "calls for the people to support jihad in Pakistan and lists a litany of grievances against the Pakistani government and US involvement there," said IntelCenter, which monitors extremist websites and communications. In particular, Zawahiri accuses Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf of corruption, arguing that he is only working to support US and Western interests and that he has committed crimes against Muslims all over the world. Zawahiri also describes Abdul Qadeer Khan -- the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb under house arrest for transferring nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea -- as a "scapegoat to appease the Americans." "Let there be no doubt in your minds that the dominant political forces at work in Pakistan today are competing to appease and please the modern day Crusaders in the White House, and are working to destabilize this nuclear capable nation under the aegis of America," Zawahiri was quoted as saying by IntelCenter. The Al-Qaeda chief "also relates his own personal experiences having lived in Pakistan in an apparent attempt to build a stronger connection with the Pakistani people." The Egyptian-born Zawahiri says he picked English because he "wants to speaks directly to the Pakistani people and chose English because he cannot speak Urdu." Zawahiri was briefly rumored to have died in a July 28 missile strike in Pakistan, but US intelligence and Pakistan's Taliban movement subsequently denied the reports. Al-Qaeda in a statement posted on an Islamist website acknowledged that the strike did kill an Al-Qaeda weapons expert, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, also known as Abu al-Khabab al-Masri. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 Dang!!! I was hoping we had whacked this little pain in the butt. Oh well....The Z-Man seems to have more lives than Felix the Cat. |
| Posted by: James Carville 2008-08-11 11:01 |
| #5 Poor old Perv. He can't seem to please anybody these days. |
| Posted by: treo 2008-08-11 10:30 |
| #4 Video simulcast with text captioning for the hearing impaired. Grunting, growling, and whining translation available for the Taliban. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-08-11 10:18 |
| #3 I'm looking forward to seeing the Paris Hilton commentary on Dr.Zawahiri's video |
| Posted by: mhw 2008-08-11 10:16 |
| #2 aegis? nuclear capable? appease and please? The man has an awfully fancy vocabulary. Such a man should be ashamed to be unable to learn the language of his long-term hosts, a language even Pakistani babies learn with ease. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-08-11 10:14 |
| #1 ION COUNTERRORISM BLOG > CHINA FINDS AL-QAEDA IN ITS BACKYARD + A CHINA THREAT FROM PAKISTAN? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-08-11 01:08 |