Al-Qaida No. 2 insults Obama in new audio message

[Tripper11]

Source: Associated Press

APNewsNow. Note: Contents of 2nd graf may be offensive to some readers.
CAIRO,Egypt (AP) -- Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri is criticizing Barack Obama in a new message, calling him a demeaning racial term implying that the president-elect is a black American who does the bidding of whites.
Al-Zawahri says in an audio message, which appeared on militant Web sites Wednesday, that Obama is "the direct opposite of honorable black Americans" like Malcolm X. He calls Obama a "house negro."
The audio plays over still pictures of al-Zawahri, Malcolm X praying, and Obama with Jewish leaders.
In the first public al-Qaida comment about Obama's electoral victory, al-Zawahri adds that Obama's plan to shift troops to Afghanistan is doomed to failure, because Afghans will resist.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-19-al-qaeda-obama_N.htm

---

edited to add USA Today Link

[JI7]

1. we know who the terrorists really wanted in office

it certainly wasn't Obama.

they will have a hard time convincing people in that part of the world that Obama is something evil .

[chrisblask]

19. Just like Putin, they needed McCain

Ivan Krastev - who would know - had interesting points on this before the GE - http://www.motleymoose.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=342

[brooklynite]

2. Al-Qaeda No. 2 calls Obama derogatory term

Source: AP

CAIRO,Egypt (AP) — Al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri criticizes President-elect Barack Obama in a new message, calling him a demeaning racial term implying that Obama is a black American who does the bidding of whites.

Al-Zawahri says in an audio message, which appeared on militant websites Wednesday, that Obama is "the direct opposite of honorable black Americans" like Malcolm X. He calls Obama a "house negro."

The audio plays over still pictures of al-Zawahri, Malcolm X praying, and Obama with Jewish leaders.

In the first public al-Qaeda comment about Obama's electoral victory, al-Zawahri adds that Obama's plan to shift troops to Afghanistan is doomed to failure, because Afghans will resist.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-19-al-qaeda-obama_N.htm

---

How long until one of our FRiends claims this is actually a clever disinformation plot to help insinuate Obama into the Government so he can destroy it from within?

[Sabriel]

3. See? I told them he wasn't working for Al Quaeda

But did they listen to me? Nooooo.......

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Which No. 2 was this?

I thought all of them were dead.

[SpiralHawk]

6. The republicons have an endless supply of Al Qaeda #2s.

The infinitely expandable supply of #2s comes in handy for republicon fear-based propaganda.

Commander AWOL Bush's message of republicon 'hope":

[Bolo Boffin]

17. You're thinking of No. 3.

No. 1 and No. 2 have always been Osama and Ayman, respectively, throughout the organization's history.

See The Looming Tower for the most complete picture of the rise of al-Qaeda available.

[CJCRANE]

22. There are franchises of Al-Qaeda such as AQI

(Al-Qaeda in Iraq). That's why there are so many #2's.

[No Elephants]

54. then you would say #2 of Al Qaeeda in Iraq. not #2 of Al Qaeeda. There is only one #2 of Al Qaeeda.

[uppityperson]

38. It is so hard to remember who has gotten killed. #3 is the position FEW want as they never get to

keep it very long.

[verges]

7. There is always a new Number Two.

Who is Number One?

[Robb]

8. You are Number Six.

[Bacchus39]

20. who is number 1? n/t

d

[nxylas]

33. I am not a number, I am a free man!

I will not be pushed, stamped, filed, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Not possible

We killed that guy, what? Eight times now?

[marshall]

9. He lumped Obama in with Powell and Rice

To them it's all the same--things will change from our point of view, but from their point of view it's the same old same old.

[lunatica]

11. I thought #2 was dead, like 4 or 5 times now....?

This is just so confusing!

:shrug:

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[peoli]

12. Im sorry but this is one of the most bizarre things Ive ever heard.

WHY on Earth would someone from AQ use a racial slur of all things? WHY would he engage in racial politics from across the globe? It is such a red flag for me. A red flag that says , "Hey Im a paid operative for the US government! Look at me!"

[slackmaster]

23. AQ hates Jews, and Americans in general

They're just as racist as the next charming bunch of "freedom fighters".

[Brazenly Liberal]

24. You make a very interesting point

Not only the racial politics, but the particular phrasing. To pick up a phrase ("house negro") from the days of slavery in the US and understand it well enough to use it "properly" does seem to imply a peculiarly detailed knowledge of US history. Probably more than someone lobbing grenades from a cave would have the time or inclination to acquire.

[Jazzgirl]

26. The "house negro" term raised my little red flag really high.

I knew it was bullshit then. We have never heard any racial epithets come from any of these guys. They have had every reason to use them with *shrub and co but they never have. House negro is definitely an American term. I doubt too many other countries use it, especially in the middle east.

[Brazenly Liberal]

37. You're right.

Now that you mention it, it's not just the American-ness of the phrase, it's also the sentiment. Their anger at Americans has been specifically political in nature and not racial.

Maybe I'm being a little paranoid, but I've just never trusted anything this administration has to say about anything or anyone in the Middle East. The hunger for power and the determination to forcibly "democratize" the region, combined with their notoriously loose relationship with truth, just make them unbelievable.

[Behind the Aegis]

41. mistranslation?

Speaking in Arabic, al-Zawahri uses the term "abeed al-beit," which literally translates as "house slaves." But al-Qaida supplied English subtitles of his speech that included the translation as "house Negroes."

The message also includes old footage of speeches by Malcolm X in which he explains the term, saying black slaves who worked in their white masters' house were more servile than those who worked in the fields. Malcolm X used the term to criticize black leaders he accused of not standing up to whites.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_AL_QAIDA_OBAMA?SITE=TNKNN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Brazenly Liberal]

44. hm. very well could be

otoh, including that footage just doesn't ring true. It has a bit of the old "methinks (s)he doth explain too much" to it, KWIM? Why would they go to so much effort to explain the meaning/etiology of a phrase we already know very well?

Look, I'm certainly no expert. I just have a hard time with the seeming coincidence tha so often has AQ's interests dovetailing so neatly with the Bush Administration's needs. I'm not saying AQ is in cahoots with Bush - I'm saying a good percentage of what we're told is bullshit.

[No Elephants]

56. FWIW, "abeed" is plural. An Arab would never use that word to describe one person, unless .

maybe he said Obama is one of the "slaves of the house." Even then, this is a uniquely American expression.

[Behind the Aegis]

57. Thanks for the linguistic lesson.

I love languages and I know so little Arabic (mainly cursing). However, how is "slaves of the house" uniquely American? And, I do think the "slaves" part was in reference to Powell, Rice and Obama.

[mollymongold]

42. these people are crazy, they were gonna be against us no matter who won imo

[No Elephants]

55. I don't even know how one would translate that into Arabic. Or was he supposed to be speaking

English when he said it?

[Bolo Boffin]

29. "someone lobbing grenades from a cave"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayman_al-Zawahiri

Ayman al-Zawahiri was born to a prominent upper middle class family in Maadi, Egypt, a suburb of Cairo, and was reportedly a studious youth. His father, Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri, was a pharmacologist and a professor coming from a large family of doctors and scholars, while his mother, Umayma Azzam, came from a wealthy, politically active clan. He excelled in school, loved poetry, "hated violent sports" - which he thought were `inhumane` - and had a deep affection for his mother.<9>

His family was "religious but not overly pious,"<10> but Zawahiri became both quite pious and political, under the influence of his uncle Mahfouz Azzam, who had been a student and then lifelong follower of radical Islamist thinker Sayyid Qutb.

...By 14, al-Zawahiri had joined the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin) Islamist group. The following year the Egyptian government executed Qutb for conspiracy, and al-Zawahiri, along with four other secondary school students, helped form an "underground cell devoted to overthrowing the government and establishing an Islamist state." It was at this early age that al-Zawahiri developed a mission in life, "to put Qutb's vision into action."<16> His cell eventually merged with others to form al-Jihad or Egyptian Islamic Jihad.<17> At Cairo University, Al-Zawahiri studied behavior, psychology and pharmacology graduating in 1974 with gayyid giddan. Following that he served three years as a surgeon in the Egyptian Army after which he established a clinic near his parents.<17> In 1978, he also earned a master's degree in surgery.

Maybe you should start finding out real things about these people instead of tossing cheap racial statements around yourself.

[Brazenly Liberal]

35. "cheap racial statements"???? Are you high?

You are imagining things. I said NOTHING that even vaguely referred to the man's race. You don't know enough about me and my personal history to realize how ridiculous that statement is, but still I am owed a huge freaking apology, though I doubt you'll have the class to give one.

An inelegant reference to what we told is the current situation with AQ does not require either snarkiness from the reader nor an apology from me, given the casual environment in which it was written. Fantasizing it to be a comment on his race only reveals your own hangups.

Plinking you onto the ignore list.

[Bolo Boffin]

36. I put it in quotations.

It's not about me, so I don't expect an apology. But it most definitely is an ignorant and biased statement.

[uppityperson]

39. Ayman al-Zawahiri has not always been "lobbing grenades from a cave" and is educated.

Just because he is "lobbing grenades from a cave" now doesn't mean he is simply an ignorant unread uninformed person.

al-Zawahiri is not an ignorant cave dweller. That is the racist part the other poster called you on.

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jberryhill]

52. I dunno about that, but the message suggests they didn't have a PR strategy for an Obama win

Portraying the US as a racist country has been a propaganda staple for all sorts of folks for a long time. I don't think they know how to deal with the Obama election.

Same thing goes for the primarily white guys that run Cuba.

[Amonester]

13. That criminal KNOWS the Obama-Biden Administration WILL...

manage to get his rotten a** - contrary to their bid-less partners of the bush-cheney maladministration - and it's obvious that he is scared sh*tless...

[LynnTheDem]

14. Yet ANOTHER thing the rightwingnuts have in common with al Qaeda.

TBoth groups hate GAYS.

Both groups hate LIBERALS.

Both groups hate SCIENCE.

Both groups love killing people.

Both groups love theocracies.

And both groups hate President-elect Obama.

[AlphaCentauri]

49. agree n/t

[Turbineguy]

15. You lost, Doctor Do No Harm.

Get over it.

[NOLALady]

16. He's right about one thing.

The president will do the bidding of whites. But he will also do the bidding of blacks, asians, hispanics, native americans and others. It's part of his job. This is the reason we elected him.

[JeanGrey]

32. Truer words were never spoken!!!

[chrisblask]

18. And now Limbaugh and the other Traitorous Bastards can STFU

Better yet, they can apologize...

http://www.motleymoose.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=708

[Raschel]

28. And the Freepers too. But they won't. They'll say that it's a trick.... (loonies)

[denverbill]

21. So I guess if you oppose Obama, you are with the terrorists. You're either with us or against us.

Remember how that works Republicans?

[byronius]

25. Sounds just like a freeper.

[bertman]

27. So much for the "Obama is a black muslin" theory.

[skooooo]

30. al quaida can get in line

Obama's heard worse from his own people (Americans).

[BunkerHill24]

40. Yup. Ralph Nader called Obama "Uncle Tom"

[JeanGrey]

31. Is this somehow unexpected? Have we come to believe that

Al Qaida was only going to hate Bush? They are going to hate ANYONE we put into office, period. Let's not forget who they are.

[zelta gaisma]

34. ummmm are we supposed ...

to get upset that Ayman al-Zawahri doesn't like President Obama? Somehow I just can't work up the outrage that he doesn't like our new President. Now the fact he's calling his racial names... that I'd like to see someone get him for but the fact he's all "i don't like you" psha!whoopdedo

[Jmac2]

43. Zawahiri Speech : Translation

I was going to post A topic in GD. Lost my username and made a new one, so I wouldnt get locked out on election night. Dont have the post to start a thread.

Speech:

In the Name of Allah, and all Praise is due to Allah, and Prayers and Peace on the Messenger of Allah and on his family, Companions and allies. Muslim brothers everywhere: Peace be upon you and the Mercy of Allah and His blessings. As for what comes after:

Barack Obama has won the presidency of the United States of America, and on this occasion, I would like to send several messages.

First, a message of congratulations to the Muslim Ummah on the American people’s admission of defeat in Iraq. Although the evidence of America’s defeat in Iraq appeared years ago, Bush and his administration continued to be stubborn and deny the brilliant midday sun. If Bush has achieved anything, it is in his transfer of America’s disaster and predicament to his successor. But the American people, by electing Obama, declared its anxiety and apprehension about the future towards which the policy of the likes of Bush is leading it, and so it decided to support someone calling for withdrawal from Iraq.

The second of these messages is to the new president of the United States. I tell him: you have reached the position of president, and a heavy legacy of failure and crimes awaits you. A failure in Iraq to which you have admitted, and a failure in Afghanistan to which the commanders of your army have admitted. The other thing to which I want to bring your attention is that what you’ve announced about how you’re going to reach an understanding with Iran and pull your troops out of Iraq to send them to Afghanistan is a policy which was destined for failure before it was born. It appears that you don’t know anything about the Muslim Ummah and its history, and the fate of the traitors who cooperated with the invaders against it, and don’t know anything about the history of Afghanistan and its free and defiant Muslim people. And if you still want to be stubborn about America’s failure in Afghanistan, then remember the fate of Bush and Pervez Musharraf, and the fate of the Soviets and British before them. And be aware that the dogs of Afghanistan have found the flesh of your soldiers to be delicious, so send thousands after thousands to them.

As for the crimes of America which await you, it appears that you continue to be captive to the same criminal American mentality towards the world and towards the Muslims. The Muslim Ummah received with extreme bitterness your hypocritical statements to and stances towards Israel, which confirmed to the Ummah that you have chosen a stance of hostility to Islam and Muslims.

You represent the direct opposite of honorable black Americans like Malik al-Shabazz, or Malcolm X (may Allah have mercy on him). You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of leadership in America. And so you promised to back Israel, and you threatened to strike the tribal regions in Pakistan, and to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan, in order for the crimes of the American Crusade in it to continue. And last Monday, your aircraft killed 40 Afghan Muslims at a wedding party in Kandahar. As for Malik al-Shabazz (may Allah have mercy on him), he was born to a black pastor killed by white bigots, but Allah favored him with guidance to Islam, and so he prided himself on his fraternity with the Muslims, and he condemned the crimes of the Crusader West against the weak and oppressed, and he declared his support for peoples resisting American occupation, and he spoke about the worldwide revolution against the Western power structure.

That’s why it wasn’t strange that Malik al-Shabazz (may Allah have mercy on him) was killed, while you have climbed the rungs of the presidency to take over the leadership of the greatest criminal force in the history of mankind and the leadership of the most violent Crusade ever against the Muslims. And in you and in Colin Powell, Rice and your likes, the words of Malcolm X (may Allah have mercy on him) concerning “House Negroes” are confirmed.

You also must appreciate, as you take over the presidency of America during its Crusade against Islam and Muslims, that you are neither facing individuals nor organizations, but are facing a Jihadi awakening and renaissance which is shaking the pillars of the entire Islamic world; and this is the fact which you and your government and country refuse to recognize and pretend not to see.

As for the third message, it is to the Muslim Ummah. I tell it: America, the criminal, trespassing Crusader, continues to be the same as ever, so we must continue to harm it, in order for it to come to its senses, because its criminal, expansionist Crusader project in your lands has only been neutralized by the sacrifices of your sons, the Mujahideen. This, then, is the path, so stick to it.

As for the fourth message, it is to the lions of Islam, the Mujahideen. I tell them: may Allah reward you in the best way for your historic heroics, which have ruined America’s plans and rendered its projects ineffective. So be firm and resolute. Your enemy’s stagger has begun, so don’t stop hitting him.

And I say to my brothers the Mujahideen in Iraq in general and the Islamic State of Iraq in particular, and to its Amir, the towering mountain Abu ‘Umar al-Baghdadi: your enemy has admitted defeat, and the forthcoming stage is expected to be dominated by conspiracies and betrayals in order to cover the American withdrawal, so you must persevere, for victory is in an hour of perseverance.

And I tell my brothers, the lions of Islam in Somalia: rejoice in victory and conquest. America is gathering its wounds in Iraq, and Ethiopia is looking for a way out, and for this reason, the stage of conspiracies and machinations has begun. So hold tightly to the truth for which you have given your lives, and don’t put down your weapons before the Mujahid state of Islam and Tawheed has been set up in Somalia. And I tell all Mujahideen everywhere: the Hubal of the age has begun to falter and recede, and Allah has granted you success and honored you by making you the most important cause of that, so be resolute on the path of Jihad until you meet your Lord while He is pleased with you.

And my fifth message is to all the world’s weak and oppressed. I tell them: America has put on a new face, but its heart full of hate, mind drowning in greed, and spirit which spreads evil, murder, repression and despotism continue to be the same as always. And the Mujahideen of Islam, by the grace of Allah, continue to be the spearhead of the resistance against it to restrain it from injustice, aggression and arrogance. As for my final message, it is to the American people. I tell it: you incurred defeat and losses from the foolish actions of Bush and his gang, and at the same time, Shaykh Usama bin Ladin (may Allah preserve him) sent you a message to withdraw from the lands of the Muslims and refrain from stealing their treasures and interfering in their affairs. So choose for yourself whatever you like, and bear the consequences of your choice, and as you judge, you will be judged.

And our final prayer is that all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace on our Master Muhammad and his family and Companions.

[Ian David]

47. He added, "We have an old saying down in Afghanistan, I think they have it in Iraq... Fool me once..

[Ian David]

46. Al Qaeda really better STFU, or we'll make Jonathon Sharkey our next President in 2016. n/t

[Demeter]

48. He's a Well Educated Terrorist, Isn't He?

To pull such an antiquity of a phrase out of his hip pocket like that.

Barack Obama is nothing of the kind. That's why he's hated and feared by the ignorant, the racists, and the fat cats.

[Behind the Aegis]

50. "such an antiquity of a phrase "

Are you fricking kidding?! The phrase is still quite well used, including by some so-called progressives. As for him being a well-educated, well, yes, he is.

[jberryhill]

51. Funniest news of the day

It's good to see that these guys aren't as bright as they have seemed at times.

Barack Obama is unusually popular around the world, and by going with a racially based insult AQ has done themselves more harm than good here.

It suggests they didn't really have a well-thought-through plan for an Obama win, and they are somewhat off balance as a result.

[hollowdweller]

53. That term proves it! Al Quaida is hiding out in Alabama!