Al-Qaida speaks. Is anyone still listening?

[Contrary1]

Bush and Co. must be saving this one till late October, if they even know about it at all.

"What if the al-Qaida deputy spoke, and nobody listened? That's essentially what happened today when the propaganda division of the terrorist group released its latest video--complete with a major new speech by the al-Qaida deputy, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri--celebrating the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks.

Al-Qaida released the new 90-minute tape to the Al Jazeera television network, played select portions of it throughout the day. But the tape has received scant attention in the United States, especially compared to recent 9-11 anniversaries.

Terrorism analysts say that Americans--and American media outlets--are ignoring al-Qaida messages at their own peril. For many Americans, terrorism concerns are "falling off the radar, as al-Qaida has been silent in the USA (and much of the West) since 9-11," said Michael Sheehan, the former counter-terrorism official for the State Department and the City of New York. "Foreign attacks are mostly background noise. This is troublesome, for if we lose our focus they will attack us again at home," said Sheehan, who is now an NBC News terrorism analyst.

Robert Grenier, the former CIA counter-terrorism official and former CIA station chief in Islamabad, agreed. "We probably overreacted initially" to al-Qaida threats after the 9-11 attacks, Grenier said, "and we are under-reacting now." He said that while al-Qaida has suffered setbacks in recent years, it is resurgent along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and is still extremely dangerous. He said Zawahiri's messages should not be discounted. "This man, unlike Bin Laden, is still an active terrorist. What he has to say to the faithful" still matters, Grenier said..."

http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/08/1364675.aspx

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Bush isn't running or pushing any more bullshit. So, nobody

cares.

[magellan]

2. Uh, why isn't BushCo hyping the hell out of this as usual?

Somehow their silence makes me nervous....

[gateley]

3. You'd think McCain would be all over this. nt

[TxRider]

4. I have been reading...

That not even Al Jazeera listens to Al Queda anymore.

From what I've been reading Al Queda has lost almost all of it's luster.

I've been reading more and more from middle east that the stations like Al Jazeera and Al Aribia etc. are quite critical of Al Queda, and challenging them regularly on the fact they have failed to hurt the U.S. in Iraq and have killed thousands of civilians instead and it is turning Arabs away from them significantly.

They are also humiliated that the citizens of these countries are the people who are chasing them out of places like Iraq and Lebanon, making them appear impotent.

They are struggling to remain relevant more and more. That won't sit well with al-Zawahir, a long time terrorist who is responsible for recruiting and indoctrinating Osama in the first place and is the real brains and leader of Al Queda.