TIME: Qaeda Tapes Reveal a Rift: tension with local Islamist groups

[DeepModem Mom]

Qaeda Tapes Reveal a Rift
Analysis: Bin Laden's and Zarqawi's newest releases point to growing tension with local Islamist groups
By TONY KARON
Posted Tuesday, Apr. 25, 2006

The most recent video releases by Osama bin Laden and Musab al-Zarqawi — and the reactions to them — reveal that the high-profile jihadist carpetbaggers may be finding it harder to maintain a following precisely in those places where local Islamist insurgencies should provide the most fertile ground. A videotape purporting to show Zarqawi musing on the state of the Iraqi insurgency surfaced on a jihadist web site on Tuesday, a day after a terror attack on the Egyptian resort town of Dahab killed at least 23 people and two days after the release of an Osama bin Laden audiotape urging attacks on Western civilians in defense of the Palestinians, among others. All three events show the growing distance between the "global jihadists" of al-Qaeda and the local constituencies on whose behalf they claim to be fighting.

Zarqawi Demoted?

The Zarqawi tape is an unremarkable restatement of enthusiasm for jihad in Iraq; its prime purpose seems to be to reestablish his media presence. And if recent reports that Zarqawi's status has been downsized even by his own coalition of insurgent groups are to be believed, it's not hard to see why the Jordanian fugitive synonymous with mass-casualty bombings of Iraqi Shi'ites and videotaped beheadings of kidnapped Westerners would be looking for some attention.

Huthaifa Azzam, a Jordan-based Palestinian Islamist and son of Osama bin Laden's erstwhile mentor in Afghanistan, Abdullah Azzam, who claims to be well-connected in Iraqi insurgent circles, said last month that Zarqawi had made "many political mistakes" and was now being confined to a military role. Others suspected that lowering his profile was a strategy to put an Iraqi face on even the Islamist element of the insurgency, recognizing that a good portion of the Sunni population was alienated by many of Zarqawi's tactics. Either way, the problem facing the likes of Zarqawi is plain to see at a moment when the nationalist leadership of the insurgency is engaging in talks with the U.S., premised in part on their common antipathy to both Iran and al-Qaeda.

Hamas vs. al-Qaeda?

If the reported rift between Zarqawi and local nationalists and Islamists is happening in the safe houses and secret communication channels of the Iraqi insurgency, the rift between al-Qaeda and Hamas has become a matter of public record. It is not yet clear who was responsible for Monday's triple bombing in Dahab, but the Hamas-led Palestinian government instantly condemned "this criminal act which flouts our religion, shakes Palestinian national security and works against Arab interests". Strong stuff, particularly from a government that only last week had labeled a Tel Aviv suicide bombing by Islamic Jihad a "legitimate act of self-defense."...

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1187576,00.html?cnn=yes

[skooooo]

1. probably our only saving grace..

..they won't get along with each other. If they did, we'd be in real trouble.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

2. Sounds like more NeoCon-sponsored propaganda to me.

[Roland99]

3. Yeah, an awful lot of "detail" about inner workings.

Where in the hell did that come from?


Sounds like pure conjecture, to me.

[MrPrax]

4. One thing I agree with...

they call it 'Egyptian resort town'.
If you notice most reports of the bombings in Egypt call it, 'the Sinai'...as if to suggest it's an unassigned geographical formation.

Oh...the story... ROLF!!

[Akoto]

5. Well ...

Considering al-Qaeda's tendency to indiscriminately set off bombs in populated areas, often killing countless natives just to get at a few Americans, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they're losing support.