New Message from al Qaeda's Zawahri

News in Balance:

Media outlets reported Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims to fight the United States and its allies around the world and praised the operations of Islamist militants in a new video released on Thursday.

Additionally, reports said a terrorist Web site would carry a new video from al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in which he declares war on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan's army.

The SITE Institute Web site reported that As-Sahab, the multimedia wing of al-Qaeda, produced a video titled, “The Power of Truth”, presenting in a documentary format a view of what al-Qaeda understands as a contemporary war against Islam led by the United States and the West.

The video, one-hour and twenty-one minutes in length and containing English-subtitles, was issued to jihadist forums on Wednesday.

Featured is a collection of excerpts from Western and Arabic television channels of American officials, journalists, scholars and thinkers, intertwined with narration and speeches by al-Qaeda leaders such as Osama bin Laden, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri and Mustafa al-Yazid AKA Sheikh Saeed. The speeches of Zawahiri and Sheikh Saeed are new. Zawahiri speaks on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001, and Sheikh Saeed, sitting with Mansour Dadullah, remarks on the jihad in Afghanistan and the aftermath of 9/11 having a “major effect in cementing the ties” between al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

SITE also reported “truth”, as given in the documentary, is that al-Qaeda and the Mujaheddin have been accumulating victories in its war against the United States and the West, despite allegations to the contrary.

Speaking directly to the American people, the narrator and al-Qaeda speakers claim the progress of the Mujaheddin and the failures of the enemy. Common threads are present from prior releases and speeches of al-Qaeda leaders, in particular overtures to minority populations by using the words of Malcolm X, and claims that the war is fueled by capitalist greed.

Zawahiri at one point questions: “Why should the American soldier make sacrifices, when he knows that the concern of his commanders is luxury and shirking of responsibility. And the concern of his political leadership is making a profit and amassing treasure?”

Related media sources: Reuters, The SITE Institute, CNN World, AP.

Tags: DOD, Military, War, United States, U.S., al Qaeda, al Qaida, Taliban, GWOT, terrorism, News in Balance
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