April 20
THE election of Barack Obama as president had not changed the attitude of Muslims towards the United States, an al-Qa'ida leader says in a new video.
"The problem is not over. Rather, it is likely to deteriorate and escalate," says Ayman Zawahiri, the second-ranked leader of the al-Qa'ida network.
Ayman Zawahiri, the second-ranked leader of the al-Qa'ida network, said that it “is America that is still killing Muslims in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan”, according to excerpts of Zawahiri's statement released by the SITE Intelligence Group.
“It is America that steals their fortunes, occupies their land, and supports the thieving, corrupt, and traitor rulers in their countries,” Zawahiri said.
“And consequently, the problem is not over. Rather, it is likely to deteriorate and escalate.”
Earlier this month, Mr Obama used his visit to Turkey to declare that the US is not and never will be at war with Islam.
He told the Turkish parliament that “you cannot put out fire with flames”, arguing that brute force alone could not thwart extremism as he sent a flurry of coded messages throughout the Middle East.
Mr Obama said US ties with the Muslim world could not be simply defined by opposition to terrorism, decades into a US struggle with extremism that was sharpened by the September 11 attacks in 2001.
But according to the monitoring group, Zawahiri insisted that the Obama administration was just conducting the same policies as former president George W. Bush, but with a different face.
“America came to us with a new face, attempting to fool us with it; a face that calls for change, but to change us, so that we give up our faith and our rights, not to change their crimes, aggressions, thefts, and their scandals,” he said, according to the excerpts.
Zawahiri also asserted that Mr Obama's new policies in Afghanistan will only lead to defeat, as was the case with the Soviets and the British before.
Last month, Mr Obama announced a new strategy for the more than seven-year war in Afghanistan, with a focus on defeating insurgents hiding out in safe havens in neighboring Pakistan.
The US president said he would add 4000 US troops in Afghanistan, triple US aid to Pakistan to $US7.5 billion over five years, attempt to peel away more moderate Taliban factions and lead a global civilian surge to Afghanistan.
In his video, Zawahiri also criticized what he portrayed as the hypocrisy of the US for attempting to apply Western democracy in the Middle East, but only when it suits US needs.
“The Western crusade showed us the truth of their democracy, its freedom, its justice, and the rights of its man, not of our man, the rights of the Western man to enslave all men other than he, because he who is not Western is not considered to belong to the human race,” he argued.
Zawahiri also told residents of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip that only jihad, or Islamic holy war, would liberate Palestine, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
Towards the end of his appeal, he called on all Muslims to join the jihad and asked for financial support.
“It is America that steals their fortunes, occupies their land, and supports the thieving, corrupt, and traitor rulers in their countries,” Zawahiri said.
“And consequently, the problem is not over. Rather, it is likely to deteriorate and escalate.”
Earlier this month, Mr Obama used his visit to Turkey to declare that the US is not and never will be at war with Islam.
He told the Turkish parliament that “you cannot put out fire with flames”, arguing that brute force alone could not thwart extremism as he sent a flurry of coded messages throughout the Middle East.
Mr Obama said US ties with the Muslim world could not be simply defined by opposition to terrorism, decades into a US struggle with extremism that was sharpened by the September 11 attacks in 2001.
But according to the monitoring group, Zawahiri insisted that the Obama administration was just conducting the same policies as former president George W. Bush, but with a different face.
“America came to us with a new face, attempting to fool us with it; a face that calls for change, but to change us, so that we give up our faith and our rights, not to change their crimes, aggressions, thefts, and their scandals,” he said, according to the excerpts.
Zawahiri also asserted that Mr Obama's new policies in Afghanistan will only lead to defeat, as was the case with the Soviets and the British before.
Last month, Mr Obama announced a new strategy for the more than seven-year war in Afghanistan, with a focus on defeating insurgents hiding out in safe havens in neighboring Pakistan.
The US president said he would add 4000 US troops in Afghanistan, triple US aid to Pakistan to $US7.5 billion over five years, attempt to peel away more moderate Taliban factions and lead a global civilian surge to Afghanistan.
In his video, Zawahiri also criticized what he portrayed as the hypocrisy of the US for attempting to apply Western democracy in the Middle East, but only when it suits US needs.
“The Western crusade showed us the truth of their democracy, its freedom, its justice, and the rights of its man, not of our man, the rights of the Western man to enslave all men other than he, because he who is not Western is not considered to belong to the human race,” he argued.
Zawahiri also told residents of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip that only jihad, or Islamic holy war, would liberate Palestine, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
Towards the end of his appeal, he called on all Muslims to join the jihad and asked for financial support.
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