Ibrahim: Al-Qaeda wants to Hit the US Again and turn Obama into another Bush
Al-Sharq al-Awsat reports in Arabic that Shaikh Najih Ibrahim, the leader of the fundamentalist group al-Gama'a al-Islamiya in Egypt, said Friday that his organization fears that al-Qaeda will launch an attack on the United States shortly, in revenge for Israel's assault on Gaza, with the aim of turning Barack Obama into "another George W. Bush."
Ibrahim's group called on al-Qaeda instead to observe a 4-month ceasefire toward the United States, so as to give Obama a chance to show he is really different.
Ibrahim said, "A repetition by al-Qaeda of new operations" [against the US] "will be a victory for Israel and a victory for the point of view of George W. Bush, underlining that violence is the natural character of Muslims."
Al-Gama'ah al-Islamiya had been led spiritually in the 1970s by Shaikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the "Blind Sheikh," who some say authorized the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat in 1981. The blind sheikh thereafter emigrated to the United States and formed an al-Qaeda-affiliated cell at his mosque that carried out the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. The blind sheikh is now in prison and has lost his popularity among the al-Gama'a al-Islamiya in Egypt. The leaders of that group, mostly in prison by the late 1990s, announced in 1998 that they had renounced violence, and the group has published 20 "recantation booklets" reinterpreting the Qur'an and Islam in the terms of peace.
Al-Qaeda's number 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was the leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a kindred organization that cooperated with the Gama'a in the killing of Sadat. Al-Zawahiri has loudly condemned the turn of the Gama'a toward peace as an ideal.
The Gama'a still has enough members connected to the radical vigilante fundamentalist underground that they might well be in a position to hear al-Qaeda chatter, and it makes me worried that they are worried.
End/ (Not Continued)
posted by Juan Cole @ 1/24/2009 12:54:00 AM
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8 Comments:
This man is correct. If it happens, it will be a horrible mistake. It might happen as what do you expect from such stupid people? Israel loves them for they service its puposes very well. With their stupidy, they have caused so much damage for every muslim and for the Palestinian cause.
Obama could steal a lot of Al Quaeda thunder by swinging a peace deal in the Middle East. But I believe that already he has blown the chance. Hopefully Mitchell will prove to be a great negotiator, but as long as the onesided approach continues, there is no hope for peace, in my opinion.
Damn it, no one that I know is sending hearts and flowers to Hamas. I don't have a problem with Obama calling on Hamas to renounce violence. I agree with him. But he needs to call on Israel to renounce violence too. The monstrous cynicism of refusing to call on the ones doing most of the killing - Israel - to renounce violence shows that Obama is simply unwilling to move away from the framing that has stoked violence in the Middle East for decades, the framing that construes EVERYTHING in terms of Israel-Is-Always-Right and Palestine-Is-Always-Wrong.
I expect the new round of superviolence to break out soon. And I blame Obama for it. Is it too much to ask that just once, JUST ONCE, an American President show a shred of fairness?
Yes, Hamas should renounce violence. So should Israel. This isn't some arcane concept, some elitist drivel. It's the oldest golden rule there is.
My guess is that Al Qaeda is astute enough to know that Obama will never fall into the George W. trap in response.
But they see an American economy on its knees and fading fast. An attack might be the blow that turns a bad downturn into a depression. They are astute enough to see that, too.
I suspect O is already looking a lot like a W from a Pakistani point of view. And the thing is, I don't feel more comfortable with the idea that such missile strikes on Pakistan as the ones that just happened are somehow more accurate, more necessary, more proportional, more wise, because Obama's the guy pulling the trigger and not W. In fact, in view of Obama's reaction to the Gaza slaughter (the usual declarations of total support for Israel), I don't figure that Obama has the slightest clue about what proportionality or military necessity might mean, or that they even exist as considerations, in his view of the world.
So far, he's looking like a real 'fire away' guy. Another cow boy,
Lookin' for some change here, people...
To create another W presumes Obama would act like W. W's lack of comprehension was apparent the afternoon of September 11. Al Qaeda can inflict pain but cannot really hurt the US. W's response to 9-11 created far more damage by several orders of magnitude than AQ ever could, and I'm pretty sure OSB is thankful to W for it.
I hope to GOD Al Qaedah listens and indeed does ceasefire until Obama's policy is clearly defined. The Quran teaches to incline towards peace when the other party does so Bin Laden is well advised to cool his heels a bit longer. However, growing frustration over Gaza can very quickly lead to vigilante action and I hate to say it but the IDF has exponentially increased the likelihood of a terrorist attack on the U.S.
When their is no "al-Qaeda" in the USA this year, can we finally admit "al-Qaeda" is not really a serious organization and that many liberals, such as Mr. Cole, take this "organization" way too seriously?
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Africa emerging as a battleground for "Soft Power."
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_608581.html
With the US prepared to spend Billions to impose military order in the Horn of Africa, most of it to crush piracy and pay to have pirates put on trial,
China is already spending Millions to secure permission and goodwill and concessions.
Avid Student
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