 Al-Qaida's second-in-command, Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, has praised Muslim fighters in Afghanistan, according to an internet audiotape posted on Friday, a day after Osama bin Laden warned of attacks in America.
| Gotta do better than a plain vanilla audio tape that could have been recorded any time to convince me he's not 868 meat chunks embedded in a wall. |
In Washington, a CIA spokeswoman said it was al-Zawahiri's voice on the tape. A US counterterrorism official initially said the tape was several years old but then retracted the statement, saying that the date of the recording was uncertain. The website which posted the recording said it was recently recorded without giving a specific date.
| Depending on your time frame, the Titanic sank recently. |
"I am honored to recite this jihadist poem," al-Zawahiri said, praising mujahidin fighters. "We shall remain true to our oath (with the Afghan mujahidin)." The message emerged one day after Bin Laden, al-Qaida's leader, said the group was preparing attacks in the United States but was open to a conditional truce with the Americans, according to an audiotape attributed to him.
| They get kerblammed and then rush to assure the fearsome jihadis that both Binny and Ayman are still in one peace. All is not well in Jihadistan. |
| I suggest we nail Pencilneck so that the Syrian government can release a poorly-dubbed audio tape claiming he's still alive. |
In his 17-minute tape, al-Zawahiri praised an Islamist Afghan poet, Mohebullah Kandahari: "The owner of the sword and pen, who carried both a machine gun and the Quran, known in scholarly circles ... and who could be seen in jihadi arenas from the time of the Russian communist attack on Afghanistan until the crusader raid [led by the United States in 2001]." |