Zawahiri postures for the camera

CNN:

Osama bin Laden's No. 2 man in al Qaeda, lashed out at U.S. efforts to extend democracy around the world in a videotape aired Sunday on Arabic-language TV station Al Jazeera, saying those efforts "will end with your defeat, the killing of your sons and the destruction of your economy."

...

Zawahiri added that if people believe the "so-called elected governments will protect you, you are wrong. This new crusade will end with your defeat, the killing of your sons and the destruction of your economy."

He said the "security of the West" is based on how it deals with Muslims "and ending all foreign occupation."

Zawahiri, addressing the camera directly, was dressed in traditional Muslim garb including a headdress. What appeared to be a rifle was propped against the wall behind him.


After showing contempt and disrespect, Zawahiri asked for respect for Muslims. Go figure. The tapes are a sign of al Qaeda impotence and fear. If al Qaeda was winning its leaders could call a news conference and take questions from reporters from around the world. Instead the cower in caves and pop out a video every now and then. In recent months the groups ability to project terror appears to be weakening. Al Qaeda has suffered significan attrition in Saudi Arabia. The only place it has any current operations is in Iraq under Zarqawi, but he has lost several of his top people in recent weeks and appears to be just one step ahead of getting caught himself.

Al Qaeda and Zarqawi suffered a devastating defeat in the Iraqi election in which every vote cast was in definance of al Qeada's threats and advice. Thus every vote cast was in effect a vote against al Qaeda. Al Qaeda's taliban allies have either gone over to the government are have become inactive in Afghanistan.

Zawahiri also shows an ignorance of economics whith his statement tht the war will ruin the US economy. The US only has the fastest growing economy the world right now with many cities have a stronger economy than most Arab countries.

While in the past these videos have been a precurser to an attack, it will be interesting to see if al Qaeda has the resources to pull one off. Any attack they attempt at this point would just be another act of impotence.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Bin Laden's concern about Zarqawi's remains