Qaeda's Zawahri says Palestinian elections futile (new video)

[maddezmom]

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said in a video tape aired on Wednesday that Palestinian elections would not free Palestinian land and would deal a blow to holy war against Israeli occupation.


"Those who are trying to free Islamic land through elections that are based on secular constitutions ... will not free a grain of Palestinian sand, but will choke jihad," he said in the tape broadcast by Al Jazeera television.

It was not clear when the recording, only excerpts of which were aired, was made. An Islamist Web site has said it would release a recording of Zawahri, the right hand man of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Saturday for early elections to break a deadlock between his Fatah faction and Hamas, which has accused him of a "coup" against its elected government.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061220/ts_nm/palestinians_zawahri_dc

oh and another #2 has been captured
Al Qaida leader capturedBAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S.-led forces captured a senior al-Qaida leader who was responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths and housed foreign fighters who carried out suicide bombings, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
The leader, who was not identified, was arrested in a raid in Mosul on Dec. 14, the military said.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=local&id=4864832

[CJCRANE]

1. Looks like

nobody cares what Zawahiri says anymore. He's been upstaged by *'s FUBAR in Iraq.

[ckramer]

2. Al-Zawahri: U.S. should talk to al-Qaida

Al-Zawahri also told the United States on Wednesday that it was negotiating with the wrong people in Iraq.

"I want to tell the Republicans and the Democrats together ... you are trying to negotiate with some parties to secure your withdrawal, but these parities won't find you an exit (from Iraq) and your attempts will yield nothing but failure," al-Zawahri said on the tape, sections of which were aired in successive news bulletins.

"It seems that you will go through a painful journey of failed negotiations until you will be forced to return to negotiate with the real powers," he said, without identifying these powers.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061220/ap_on_re_mi_ea/egypt_al_qaida