 by Khaled Abu Toameh Jordanian citizens learned about the real circumstances in which the intelligence officer was killed from foreign media outlets, first and foremost Al-Jazeera.
It was the first time they were told that the Jordanian General Intelligence Department was working closely with the CIA against Al-Qaeda and other Islamic fundamentalist groups. The revelations have since embarrassed the Jordanian authorities, whose spokesmen and media continue their attempts to conceal or downplay the role their security forces are playing in the fight against Muslim terrorists in different parts of the world. In announcing the death of General Intelligence officer Captain Sharif Ali bin Zeid, the Jordanian government said that he was on a "humanitarian mission" in Afghanistan. The officer was killed together with seven CIA employees when a Jordanian citizen blew himself up in the eastern Afghan province ofKhost. The suicide bomber, identified as Hammam Khalil al-Balawi, had duped the Jordanian authorities into thinking that he had important information that could lead them and the CIA to Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Why are most of the Arab dictators afraid or reluctant to publicly admit that their countries are at war with Al-Qaeda and other Islamic fundamentalist groups? Failure to acknowledge that they are part of this war underscores the state of fear and denial that the Arab dictatorships continue to live in with regards to the threat from Islamic radicals. These rulers and their governments, the majority of whom are unelected, are actually afraid of the Arab and Islamic masses. They are afraid of exposing their connection to the US because, for decades, these dictatorships have been telling the masses that Israel and the US are their real enemies, and not Al-Qaeda and the terrorists who have hijacked Islam. Additionally, these dictatorships are afraid of being accused by Arabs and Muslims of participating in a "war of Crusaders and infidels" against Islam. This is because the majority of the Arab and Islamic regimes have been telling their constituents that this is actually a war waged by the West against Islam. There is also no reason why the US should be helping these regimes in concealing the truth. The battle against Al-Qaeda and Islamic terror groups cannot be won as long as Washington's allies in the Arab and Islamic world continue to hide the truth from their people. It is time for these dictatorships to stop their double talk and to openly admit that moderate Muslims are at war with a tiny minority of thugs and murderers who have hijacked their religion. The Jordanians are not alone in trying to hide the fact that their security services are actively involved in the war against Islamic fundamentalism. The Palestinian Authority, whose security forces are waging a war on Hamas supporters and extremists in the West Bank, has also been doing its utmost to hide its security coordination with Israel. In fact, the Palestinian Authority continues to insist that it never helped Israel during the last war in the Gaza Strip although Israeli security officials have confirmed that such assistance had been provided. Moreover, the Palestinian Authority maintains that the massive crackdown that its forces have been waging against Hamas in the West Bank over the past few years is solely directed against "criminals" and "outlaws." Similarly, the Saudis, Egyptians, Moroccans and Yemenis have also been very reluctant to expose their close ties with the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies involved in the battle against Islamic fundamentalism. Forces belonging to these countries have been involved in the fight against radical Islam on various fronts such as the border between Afghanistan andPakistan and the one between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Hudson New York 
 BY CHARLES KURZMAN, IJLAL NAQVI Do Muslims automatically vote Islamic? That's the concern conjured up by strongmen from Tunis to Tashkent, and plenty of Western experts agree. They point to the political victories of Islamic parties in Egypt, Palestine, and Turkey in recent years and warn that more elections across the Islamic world could turn power over to anti-democratic fundamentalists. But these victories turn out to be exceptions, not the political rule. When we examined results from parliamentary elections in all Muslim societies, we found a very different pattern: Given the choice, voters tend to go with secular parties, not religious ones.
Over the past 40 years, 86 parliamentary elections in 20 countries have included one or more Islamic parties, according to annual reports from the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Voters in these places have overwhelmingly turned up their noses at such parties. Eighty percent of these Islamic parties earned less than 20 percent of the vote, and a majority got less than 10 percent -- hardly landslide victories. The same is true even over the last few years, with numbers barely changing since 2001. True, Islamic parties have won a few well-publicized breakthrough victories, such as in Algeria in 1991 and Palestine in 2006.
But far more often, Islamic parties tend to do very poorly. What's more, the more free and fair an election is, the worse the Islamic parties do. By our calculations, the average percentage of seats won by Islamic parties in relatively free elections is 10 points lower than in less free ones. Even if they don't win, Islamic parties often find themselves liberalized by the electoral process. We found that Islamic party platforms are less likely to focus on sharia law or armed jihad in freer elections and more likely to uphold democracy and women's rights.
And even in more authoritarian countries, Islamic party platforms have shifted over the course of multiple elections toward more liberal positions: Morocco's Justice and Development Party and Jordan's Islamic Action Front both stripped sharia law from their platforms over the last several years. These are still culturally conservative parties, by any standard, but their decision to run for office places them at odds with Islamic revolutionaries. In many cases, they're actually risking their lives. Almost two decades ago, even before his alliance with Osama bin Laden, Egyptian jihadist Ayman al-Zawahiri wrote a tract condemning the Muslim Brotherhood's abandonment of revolutionary methods in favor of electoral politics.
"Whoever labels himself as a Muslim democrat, or a Muslim who calls for democracy, is like saying he is a Jewish Muslim or a Christian Muslim," he wrote. In Iraq, Sunni Islamic revolutionaries recently renewed their campaign "to start killing all those participating in the political process," according to a warning received by a Sunni politician who was subsequently assassinated in Mosul. More at Foreign Policy
 By Diana Mukkaled Al Qaeda has grown weak. It is nothing more than a pursued leadership, a disintegrated entity and an ideology struggling to survive on the internet. This has been repeated over the past few years. However, a couple of incidents that took place recently have opened the world’s eyes to an alarming resurrection of Al Qaeda in several places around the world including Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan and the US.
Perhaps the most absurd attack of all was the suicide bombing that targeted a volleyball court in Pakistan. What awakened Al Qaeda in such a vicious manner? Was Al Qaeda dormant in the first place? Specialists, politicians and media figures are now trying to answer these unnerving questions.
What concerns us in this article is the renewed interest in the internet as a means for spreading terrorism, especially after unearthing a link between Omar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, the young Nigerian who almost blew up an American airliner bound for Detroit, and Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al Awlaqi, who is suspected of having links to three of the 9/11 hijackers and to Malik Nadal Hassan, the US army Major who killed 13 of his fellow troops at a US military base a few weeks ago. At one point when Al Qaeda’s activities on the ground dwindled for logistic, financial and operational reasons, the internet remained its only stage for vital interaction.
Furthermore, a lot of material that did not find its way to- or was blocked by-traditional media managed to find plenty of space on the internet and so Al Qaeda’s online collection increased dramatically. Any web user would come across books, journals, poems, detailed events and video clips of terrorist operations all posted on the net. On Jihadist sites, people can read a complete body of works compiled over the years of operations carried out by Al Qaeda in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and other places. These works have built up a large and extensive archive that is being circulated and downloaded using interactive technology.
The archive is being presented as eye-catching, cross-border material or a collection of heroic deeds spearheaded by faithful believers. Samples of such terrorist operations are being narrated in a beckoning style that appeals to certain segments that are impressed by such stories. It is true that Al Qaeda has become part of the divisions and score-settling bloodbaths in Yemen and Iraq. However, this does not absolve the international community of its responsibility [not to allow] the rampant spread of Al Qaeda's ideology through the internet, all the way from Indonesia to the United States. Some might say that if it weren’t for the internet, Al Qaeda would not exist. This statement, though it requires some scrutiny, is correct in a way. The internet enabled Al Qaeda to survive despite its fall. While Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al Zawaheri were lying low and were completely unable to administer anything, Al Qaeda forums were busy providing those wandering aimlessly with what the leadership of the organization had failed to supply in terms of ideas, plans, methods of operation, and training, particularly where the making of explosives was concerned. Today Al Qaeda is back, thanks to the unlimited time and space the internet has provided.
It is not enough to search through cyber space to try and understand how Al Qaeda operates. It is imperative that we first recognize the enormity of our divisions and internal rifts that continue to aggravate and nourish Al Qaeda. Asharq Alawsat
 WASHINGTON: Before detonating a suicide bomb in Afghanistan last week, a Jordanian militant was considered by American spy agencies as the most promising informant in years about the whereabouts of al-Qa'ida's top leaders. US intelligence officials told The New York Times they had been so hopeful about what the Jordanian might deliver during a meeting with CIA officials at a remote base in Khost that top officials at the agency and the White House had been informed the gathering would take place. Instead, the Jordanian double-agent blew himself up, killing seven CIA operatives. The Jordanian militant for months had been feeding a stream of information about lower-ranking al-Qa'ida operatives to his Jordanian supervisor, Captain Sharif Ali bin Zeid, to establish his credibility and apparently to help broker a meeting with CIA operatives in Afghanistan. The Americans believed he might provide them with leads to Ayman al-Zawahri, the terrorist group's second-ranking operative. Jordanian officials said the GID detained and interrogated Balawi about a year ago because of concerns he was tied to al-Qa'ida. The GID subsequently released Balawi after concluding he'd become a loyal covert asset of the agency, the officials said. Balawi, who was living in Pakistan, began contacting the GID by email and passing on "credible" information about al-Qa'ida leaders and plots against Jordan, the US and other Western allies, the officials said. The GID turned the information over to the CIA and other Western governments, which maintain close ties to the Jordanian intelligence agency, they said. US intelligence officials are working to verify their belief the double-agent was working with al-Qa'ida. The meeting at the CIA base, one official said, was about "important people" in al-Qa'ida. "It was the most promising lead" the agency had, the official said. "If you've got promising leads brought to you by your friends, coupled with information that checked out . . . It was the agency's duty to meet with this person". The agency has not yet had a chance to do a full review of what happened, but questions it seeks to answer include why the bomber was allowed on to the compound without being checked and why so many officers were near the bomber at the time of the explosion. Jordanian officials said they expected a team of CIA investigators to visit Amman in coming days to seek information about Balawi and the circumstances surrounding the attack. A staunch Western ally in the Middle East, Jordan has long had one of the most effective intelligence operations in the Arab world. But the suicide bombing severely embarrassed Amman, and raises questions over Jordan's vaunted role in helping Western intelligence agencies identify and track down Islamist terrorists. Jordan's GID was set up in 1964 and has built up a reputation for ruthless efficiency at home and abroad. Keeping a very tight grip on internal security and briefing the government on opposition movements within the kingdom, it has forestalled or intercepted several plots to destabilise the country during the 10-year reign of King Abdullah II and his father. Its role overseas is of growing importance and is the key to Western attempts to penetrate Arab jihadist networks. The Australian
 Al-Zawahiri sounds a good bit like Hitler here. It plays well with his audience. "Al-Qaeda: Al-Zawahiri calls to 'disinfect the Maghreb of Spanish and French nationals,'" a translation of a Spanish news story by Claudia at Tea and Politics, January 1: Al-Qaeda retakes its offensive against the West threatening.
This time the message comes from Al-Zawahiri, AQ's No.2. In a video, he addresses the members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, those who have kidnapped three Spanish volunteers (and another French national). Al-Zawahiri assures that they will never be able to reconquest Al-Andalus without cleaning, "disinfecting" he says literally, the Maghreb of the "Infidels", those who for Bin Laden's No.2 are represented by Spanish and French nationals in the area.The video message is subtitled in English and Al-Zawahiri asks Muslims to be with his sons, the mujahidienes. He shows the territory they must reconquer, a map of the Iberian Peninsula, which in this occassion goes beyond the Pyrenees. In the video there are images of Cordoba's mosque or Granada's Alhambra in which Bin Laden and Co. appear with the black flag of Islam.... That is the flag of jihad. With thanks to JihadWatch
 Our old friend Raymond Ibrahim peels back some doubletalk. "Shameless Islamist Doublespeak Rages On: To English audiences, jihadists talk of ending oppression; to Arabic ones, they talk of oppressing the infidel," by Raymond Ibrahim in Pajamas Media, December 24: "Al-Qaeda's Zawahiri Accuses Obama of Trying to 'Enslave' Arab World." So reads the headline of a recent Fox News report, which goes on to quote Zawahiri saying things such as "Obama's policy is nothing but another cycle in the Crusader and Zionist campaign to enslave and humiliate us, and to occupy our land and steal our wealth." Two years earlier, Zawahiri was even more dramatic.
Then he implored "blacks in America, people of color, American Indians, Hispanics, and all the weak and oppressed in North and South America, in Africa and Asia, and all over the world, to know that when we wage jihad in Allah's path, we aren't waging jihad to lift oppression from Muslims only; we are waging jihad ... to lift oppression from all mankind. ...
This is why I want every oppressed one on the face of the earth to know that our victory over America and the Crusading West -- with Allah's permission -- is a victory for them, because they shall be freed from the most powerful tyrannical force in the history of mankind." Unfortunately for al-Qaeda, its very own words -- the Arabic ones directed at fellow Muslims which Westerners rarely see or read -- unequivocally contradict its repeated attempts to portray itself as an organization out to spread Robin Hood-style justice and equanimity vis-à-vis a tyrannical U.S. For in these Arabic treatises, al-Qaeda makes it perfectly clear that, short of submitting to Islamic hegemony, the non-Muslim world is the enemy, ipso facto. Yet doublespeak is definitely not the sole province of al-Qaeda; the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict has furnished the world with some of the most flagrant examples of Islamist doublespeak -- emanating from such players as Arafat, the PLO, and Hamas. Hezbollah offers a recent example: According to Reuters, the terrorist organization's newly revised manifesto "tones down Islamist rhetoric but maintains a tough line against Israel and the United States. The new manifesto drops reference to an Islamic republic in Lebanon, which has a substantial Christian population, confirming changes to Hezbollah thinking about the need to respect Lebanon's diversity." In fact, this "new" manifesto has been hailed as a progressive step forward for the terrorist organization: an AFP headline tells us that "Hezbollah strikes softer tone in second manifesto: [according to] analysts," such as one Paul Salem, head of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center, who asserts that the "manifesto is reassuring as it shows Hezbollah's integration with Lebanese political life."... Read it all. With thanks to JihadWatch
 A woman's place is in the home, not killing kuffar. "Wife of Qaeda number 2 urges women not to join jihad," from AFP, December 17 DUBAI -- The wife of Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has appealed to Muslim women not to join the jihad themselves but to support their menfolk in holy war, US monitoring groups said on Thursday. In a letter released by Al-Qaeda's media arm As-Sahab entitled "A Message to the Muslim Sisters," Omayma Hassan Ahmed Mohammed Hassan also called on the female faithful to resist Western pressure to shun the hijab, or headscarf, the monitors said. The SITE group said that Zawahiri's wife discouraged women from pursuing an active role in fighting, calling on them instead to support their husbands and male mujahedeen, and properly rear their children.... ...to be good mujahedin themselves. The boys, anyway. With thanks to JihadWatch
 And the UN passes the “Defamation of Religions” Resolution. I was just about to shut my computer down when I realized that there are two breaking news items that I just have to share with you. First, according to NBC and ABC journalist Mark Schone, “Zawahiri’s Wife Releases Statement, Tells Women They Can Be Suicide Bombers.” What’s this? The twisted triumph of feminism, Islamist-style?
Women have been suicide killers before. Palestinians have forced/manipulated women as well a men into killing themselves as a way to kill Israeli civilians; various Muslim groups in Iraq and Iran, as well as the Tamil Tigers have also forced/manipulated women to become suicide killers. Why is Al-Qaeda’s Zawahiri allowing one of his four (or more) wives to take such an active public role? And, why now? Omaima Hassan , Zawahiri’s wife, first reminds women that their primary role is that of bearing and breeding a jihadic fighter’s sons. She counsels women to support jihad by keeping the warrior’s secrets and his home, and by wearing hijab. She also disapproves of women going out without a male escort or guide. But then, in an unconfirmed report, she goes further. According to Schone: “Hassan also suggests that women can become suicide bombers, which she refers to as "martyrdom missions." This is certainly different from what her husband said in 2008, in a “two-hour recorded interview posted on a web site.” Zawahiri, who is believed to be in Pakistan, insisted “that Al Qaeda did not have women members, and that the role of women in jihad was limited to taking care of the children of fighters and maintaining their homes.” One conclusion: Watch out for suicide bombers wearing burqas. The second piece of breaking news concerns the vote just taken at the United Nations.
According to L. Bennett Graham, Legislative and International Programs Officer at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the “Defamation of Religions” resolution passed the General Assembly in New York earlier today. It did so “by a vote of 80 in favor, 61 against, and 42 abstentions. As a matter of comparison, last year’s General Assembly passed the resolution by a vote of 86 in favor, 53 against, and 42 abstentions (in other words, the difference in last year’s votes was 33, this year it was only 19).
In 2006, 111 countries were voting in favor of this resolution. So despite another loss, the momentum continues to go against this concept.” Schiff thanks his supporters and all those who are “taking a stand for the freedom of conscience, thought, and religion…Our combined hard work continues to pay off, and while the issue of ‘defamation of religions’ continues to threaten the entire concept of human rights, we are confident that civil society’s voice will be fundamental in defeating this flawed concept and will ultimately bring a better understanding of freedom around the world. There is still plenty of work to be done between now and March, when we expect the resolution to come up again before the Human Rights Council in Geneva.” Let me understand this. Al Qaeda wants burqa wearers, both male and female, to blow us all up but the UN does not want us to say that such killers have anything to do with Islam or Islamic jihad (or with anyone’s interpretation of Islam), lest we commit a thought crime. I say: Shout it from the rooftops, set it to music, add it to our textbooks, teach our children.
As has been said: Silence=Death. Phyllis Chesler
 The wife of al-Qaida’s No. 2 official purportedly is urging Muslim women to help militants, even to the point of carrying out suicide missions. A statement released Wednesday, said to be from the wife of Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's Egyptian deputy and second-in-command, encouraged Muslim women to join jihad as an "obligation." It's believed to be the first time the wife of an al-Qaida official has issued a statement in support of militant operations.
In the past, women have been asked to assist their male relatives, donate money and raise their male children as jihadis. But in each case, the women were encouraged by males. Al-Zawahiri is known to release video messages through the Internet, but the recent message is reportedly the first posting from his wife. "Fighting is not easy for women, because she needs a male guardian at her side," Umaima Hassan reportedly said in her message. Authorities have not been able to authenticate the message's validity. "For some reason they have decided to tap a resource that heretofore they have tiptoed around ... participation by women in combat operations and suicide bombings," said Evan Kohlmann, NBC News counterterrorism analyst. Kohlmann said Hasan wrote specifically of "martydom" and "how many sisters carried out a martyrdom operation in Palestine, Iraq and Chechnya, and caused the enemy high costs and caused the enemy a big defeat. We ask from Allah to accept them and connect us with them with goodness." By asking women to participate in the fight, Kohlmann said, Hasan was asking that women go to combat zones. Kohlmann said it was possible that al-Qaida was facing a personnel shortfall in combat operations. NBC
 CAIRO — Al Qaeda's deputy leader on Monday accused President Barack Obama of deceiving the Arab world and failing to advance Middle East peace talks, and said the militants' struggle against the United States and its allies is "a war between Muslims and infidels." In a new message posted on the Internet, Ayman Al-Zawahiri claimed Obama has brought the region nothing but "blockade and siege" despite efforts to reach out to Arabs. "Obama's plan, though wrapped in smiles and calls for respect and understanding, aims only to support Israel," al-Zawahiri said in a 26-minute audio message. Usama bin Laden's deputy has been critical of Obama since his election, even releasing a message that referred to the U.S. president as a "house negro," a slur for a black subservient to whites. "Obama's policy is nothing but another cycle in the Crusader and Zionist campaign to enslave and humiliate us, and to occupy our land and steal our wealth," al-Zawahiri said. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified, but it was posted on a Web site commonly used for militant messaging. In it, al-Zawahiri also scoffed at key American allies in the region — the Egyptian president and the Jordanian and the Saudi kings — for supporting peace with Israel. He urged Muslims and Palestinians to wage holy war, or jihad, not only in Israel and the Palestinian territories but also beyond those areas, saying there are "ample opportunities elsewhere." He praised Muslim militants fighting in Pakistan, saying the conflict there was a "war of Muslim dignity and pride" and warned the Palestinians against any negotiations with Israel. "We should continue jihad to liberate Palestinian land and establish an Islamic state there. We should wage jihad against Jews and all those who support them, whether they are Americans or Westerners," he said. The terror network's No. 2 said the group "will not forget" its members held in American prisons. He specifically mentioned Ramzi Youssef, convicted and now serving a life sentence for the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, and also Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Al Qaeda's mastermind of the September 11 bombings. Mohammed and four others, held for years at the military base in Guantanamo Bay, are due to stand trial on charges they plotted the September 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. FoxNews
 By Ryan Mauro The rationale for pushing forward in Afghanistan is that it is the “right” war, the “war of necessity,” the true base of the terrorists that attacked us on 9/11 and would try to attack us again. Essentially, those opposing the war in Iraq while supporting the war in Afghanistan try to frame the latter conflict as justified in every way the former is not.
As the war in Iraq ever so slowly comes to a close and the history books begin being written, new evidence has emerged to challenge the narrative that the war in Iraq was something different than the war on terror. The timing, justification, and prosecution of the war in Iraq will forever be debated, but a fair assessment of documents, studies, and testimony will show that Saddam Hussein’s regime was a supporter and active participant in radical Islamic terrorism. The lead prosecutor of Saddam Hussein, Ja’far al-Musawi, says that he has seen official documents that prove that his regime was involved with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Last year, a Kurdish newspaper published an Iraqi intelligence document from 2002 referencing a proposed meeting with al-Zawahiri to discuss a “revenge operation” against Saudi Arabia at Saddam Hussein’s request. If previous ties had not been maintained and if there was such hostility between the secularist government of Saddam and al-Qaeda as is assumed, such a plan would never have been hatched by Saddam or been acted upon by his intelligence service. A source at the Iraq Memory Foundation, which is going through thousands of files to document Saddam Hussein’s reign, has reported that they have seen documents showing a link between Saddam and al-Qaeda.
One document dated December 12, 1994, reveals that Uday Hussein received a message from Osama bin Laden via a Sudanese politician requesting an alliance. A meeting between bin Laden, an Iraqi government representative, and the Sudanese official then happened on January 11, 1995, where cooperation in attacking foreign forces in Saudi Arabia was discussed.
The foundation said another file shows that Iraqi intelligence suggested to bin Laden that he leave Sudan for security reasons and that the ties continued after he moved to Afghanistan. Another document dated March 28, 1992, describes bin Laden as being “in a good relationship” with Iraqi intelligence in Syria. Other documents have provided immense detail of the Saddam-terror connection. Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister of Iraq, said that his government collected proof of such ties. He said that Ayman al-Zawahiri attended the Popular Islamic Conference in Baghdad in 1999, an event chaired by the Iraqi vice president that brought together representatives of terrorist groups from around the world.
Allawi said that Iraqi intelligence facilitated the travel of Ansar al-Islam operatives in the north, and he confirmed that the U.S. gave intelligence to Iraq via Jordan about the location of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq in 2002, but the Iraqis did not take any action. Mark Eichenlaub of RegimeOfTerror.com did an interview this summer with Matthew Degn, a former senior advisor to the Iraqi Interior Ministry and a U.S. Army civilian interrogator, about this topic. Degn said that Saddam’s government used the hawala system, which is an unofficial banking system involving a network of brokers to transfer funds with no documentation, to fund elements of al-Qaeda that were willing to work across ideological lines.
Degn said that al-Qaeda had at least two training camps in Iraq, specifically in Anbar Province and the western part of the country, and that at least two cells operated, one loyal to Zarqawi and another to Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
Degn also said there is evidence that Iraq sponsored attacks on American forces in Kuwait. Ryan Mauro is the founder of WorldThreats.com and the director of intelligence at the Asymmetrical Warfare and Intelligence Center (AWIC). He’s also the national security researcher for the Christian Action Network and a published author. He can be contacted at TDCAnalyst@aol.com. More at Pajamas Media
 The person in charge of prosecuting Saddam Hussein says that there are documents proving that his regime and Al-Qaeda had a relationship. From MEMRI: Ja’far al-Musawi, head of the prosecution team in the trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, has told the Iraqi TV channel al-Faihaa of the existence of official documents that prove the involvement of the Saddam regime with the two leaders of Al-Qaeda – “the terrorist Osama bin Laden and the terrorist Ayman Al-Zawahiri.” He said that members of the Saudi royal family worked to deepen the relationship between the Saddam regime and the terrorist Al-Qaeda organization. Source: Al-Faiyaa.tv/news, November 14, 2009 World Threats
 CAIRO — Al Qaeda's deputy leader in a video released Sunday paid tribute to a senior militant who was held in U.S. secret prisons and once gave information about links between the terror group and Iraq that was later deemed false. In his 10-minute video, Ayman al-Zawahri eulogized Ali Mohammed Abdel-Aziz al-Fakheri, a Libyan militant with the nom de guerre of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi.
The militant reportedly hanged himself with bedsheets in his prison cell in Libya in May, according to a newspaper with ties to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son. Al-Libi, which means Libyan in Arabic, was captured in Pakistan in 2001 and later sent to Egypt under the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, where he was reportedly tortured and then handed over to Libya. In the video, Al-Zawahri, dressed in a white traditional Arab robe and white turban, accused President Barack Obama of killing al-Libi and demanded the U.S. "apologize and pay financial and moral compensation" for those who have been detained in secret prisons. "This is the least to be accepted from you and from your government," al-Zawarhi said, addressing Obama. Al Qaeda 's no. 2 leader said the U.S. and Arab governments working with Washington tortured al-Libi before eventually handing him over to Libya "to carry on the torture." Al-Libi was then killed, al-Zawahri said, "on behalf of the American criminal monster, who fools us as the smiling Obama who seeks peace and the defender of human rights." Many experts believe that Al Qaeda is struggling in the face of Obama's popularity in the Muslim world — especially compared to his predecessor, George W. Bush — and the terror network has frequently sought to portray Obama's policies as a mere extension of Bush's. Read more here,,,, Source: FoxNews
 Al Qaeda's deputy leader on Monday seized upon President Barack Obama's failure to bring about a freeze in Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and called him a "fraud" in a new audio message. Ayman al-Zawahri's 28-minute audio message was mainly a eulogy for slain Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, but he also took the opportunity to slam NATO member states operating in Afghanistan, including Germany, which he criticized for keeping troops there. The recording comes after a series of Al Qaeda videos this past month, including several attacking Germany and threatening strikes against Berlin's military mission in Afghanistan. Those releases raised concerns among German authorities ahead of parliamentary elections which ended Sunday. Al-Zawahri reserved special scorn for Obama, whom he has insulted in nearly every one of his messages since the latter's historic election as U.S. president. Many experts believe that Al Qaeda is struggling in the face of Obama's popularity in the Muslim world, especially compared to his predecessor George W. Bush. Obama publicly called for an Israeli freeze in settlement construction in order to restart the peace talks, but was rebuffed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week. Read more here,,,, Source: FoxNews
 Al Qaeda released a 106-minute Arabic language video Tuesday titled "The West... and The Dark Tunnel" featuring Al Qaeda's second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri predicting the downfall of Barack Obama. During the documentary-style video to mark the ninth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, Al Qaeda leaders comment on events in the past year such as the U.S. presidential elections, the global financial meltdown, and the latest on jihadist movements around the world. "America has come in a new, hypocritical face. Smiling at us, but stabbing us with the same dagger that Bush used," said Zawahri in the message. "God willing, your end will be at the hands of the Muslim nation, so that the world and history will be free of your crimes and lies," he said addressing Obama at the end of the two-part video. In addition to Zawahiri, other Al Qaeda leaders speaking in the video include Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, Attiya Allah, Abu Yahya al-Libi, and Adam Gadahn. As in the past, Al Qaeda attempted to conflate Obama with his predecessor, George W. Bush, who was widely disliked by Muslims for his invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Many analysts believe that Al Qaeda has been alarmed by Obama's comparative popularity in the Middle East, especially following his landmark speech to the Muslim world in Cairo in June. Adam Gadahn, also known as Azzam al-Amriki, an American who grew up in southern California and converted to Islam and joined Al Qaeda, also speaks on the election of Obama. Gadahn was charged with treason in 2006 and there is a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. Gadahn's remarks celebrating the defeat of Bush and ridiculing Obama suggest the video was made in late August or early September. "The important question is will Obama and his Democrats learn from his predecessor's mistakes or will they go on repeating them until they too leave office in humiliation and disgrace," said the heavily bearded American, dressed in a white robe. "Unfortunately for the Democrats, and judging by their first seven-and-a-half months at the helm of the sinking American ship, the prognosis doesn't look good," he said. The message included a lengthy section on U.S. prisons and torture facilities and showed footage of what appeared to be an American torturing an Afghan for information by dunking his head into a bucket of water. The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist Web sites, identified the person conducting the torture as Jonathan Keith Idema, who also appeared in last year's Al Qaeda video. The message also discussed the progress of the various jihadi movements around the world, in particular Taliban victories against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The video's strident anti-American tone and detailed enumeration of what it describes as the U.S. crimes was in sharp contrast to the earlier bin Laden message, which appeared to be an appeal to the American people to sever their ties with Israel and end the war with Al Qaeda. Source: FoxNews
 By Acil Tabbara DUBAI — Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden appears to be a man weakened under pressure in his latest message, which is addressed directly to the American people, analysts said on Monday.
In the message released to mark the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States that killed almost 3,000 people, bin Laden urged Americans to pressure the White House to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Titled "Message to the American People," the video -- released by the As-Sahab media branch of Al-Qaeda -- features a still image of bin Laden and an audio statement, said the IntelCenter US monitoring group.
In the message bin Laden says that US President Barack Obama is "powerless" to halt the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and must rethink his policy on Israel, accusing "neo-conservatives" of maintaining a grip on the White House.
Analysts said the latest message appeared to be less strident than the Al-Qaeda leader's previous diatribes against the West, and the United States in particular.
"There is a relatively new change, there is a transformation ... He is not giving any warnings and is seeking to justify the September 11 attacks," said Diaa Rashwan, a leading expert on militant groups.
"For the first time, he didn't mention or praise the martyrs who perpetrated the September 11 attacks," said Rashwan, who is deputy head of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo.
The latest audio, he added, comes three weeks after Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri released a message about the situation in the Swat valley in Pakistan during which he made an unusual number of religious references calling for the unity of the fighters.
"All this demonstrates clearly that Al-Qaeda is being affected by developments on the ground," said Rashwan, adding that for the first time bin Laden speaks positively of three US presidents.
"He mentions Obama's address to the Muslim world in Cairo on June 3, he evokes Jimmy Carter's stance towards the Palestinians and he says that Obama will have the same destiny as John Kennedy (who was assassinated in 1963) if he follows a different policy from the neo-conservatives," Rashwan explained.
Theodore Karacic, head of research and development at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), agrees.
"It's important that we're hearing his voice again after a while and it's coming at the time of the September 11 anniversary," Karacic said in Dubai.
"It's too much bluster, bin Laden is not putting any emphasis on action ... his comment is a political statement rather than a dire warning."
Bin Laden typically releases a statement annually around September or October. "Ask yourselves to determine your position: is your security, your blood, your children, your money, your jobs, your homes, your economy, and your reputation dearer to you than the security of the Israelis, their children and their economy?" bin Laden asked in his latest message. "If you choose your security and cessation of war, and this is what the polls have shown, this requires you to work to punish those on your side who play with our security. "We are ready to respond to this choice on aforementioned sound and just bases."
Saudi analyst Anwar Eshki, head of the Middle East Centre for Strategic Studies in Jeddah, also believes the Al-Qaeda leader has changed. "This is the first time I have seen bin Laden that weak," said Eshki, who had known the Al-Qaeda leader when he lived in Saudi Arabia. "The message shows that he is in a difficult situation especially since we have heard that he has started to feel the pressure in the Pakistani tribal areas at a time when a lot of militants are leaving Pakistan for Yemen or Somalia.
"Al-Qaeda is facing a process of being dismantled due to the strong blows it is being dealt as well as the Saudi process of rehabilitation," he added, referring to Riyadh's policy of putting militants who wish to reform through an intensive rehabilitation programme. The last audiotape by the Al-Qaeda leader was released on June 3. In that missive his tone was belligerent, pouring scorn on Obama's overture to the Islamic world and warning of decades of conflict ahead. Bin Laden has a 50-million-dollar bounty on his head and has been in hiding for the past eight years. Intelligence officials, military analysts and other experts have long believed he is hiding along the remote mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Source: Google News
Islamic Leader’s Anti-West Messages Are Lies
Friday, September 11, 2009 7:49 AM - Tawfik Hamid An open letter to Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri Dr. al-Zawahiri, many years ago, as a student at University of Cairo Medical School Mosque, when I joined Jammaa Islamia, I sat in front of you, and listened fervently to your sermons. At that time, I looked up to you as my mentor who was going to guide me through the correct path to the divine. I cannot forget your fiery speeches, enthusiastic, extraordinary charisma and your dedication to the cause of Islam. Once, I remember you placing your hand over my shoulder, telling me that my generation is the hope for Islam. I was truly captivated; I was so young and mislead by your appealing charm as many others were. As I looked deeply into your eyes, I hoped that you would lead me to find my path to spirituality. Instead, you led me into the corridor of hatred and violence. I was deceived by your sharp authoritative look and your powerful speeches, but after all, I was fortunate to recognize early enough that I was on the wrong course. You taught me and other members of the JI that the West is evil because it does not implement Shariah law. You explained that it allows women to dress as they wish, and provide them full freedom. Back then, I was deceived by your statements. But let me ask you now, which is preferable; the western system that respects basic values of freedom for women or the Salafi Islamic system that you follow that suppresses and justifies beating women, allows polygamy, permits slavery, and still promotes stoning women to death for adultery? Dr. al-Zawahiri, after all these years, I discovered that the values that you promoted for “modesty” of our Muslim women are not sincerely values of modesty as you claimed, but rather immoral means to enslave them. According to our Shariah system, a Muslim woman engaged sexually with a man on her free will, should be punished by death, yet if a man sold the same woman as a slave to the same man to engage in sex with him — against her free will — it is until now acceptable in our Islamic laws. Do you consider that moral or just? Obviously, the entire issue is not modesty for Muslim women as you claimed but rather a way to control them. Read All here. http://www.newsmax.com/tawfik_hamid/zawahiri_muslims_qaida/2009/09/11/258846.html
 Anthony Loyd and Zahid Hussain The hunt for Osama bin Laden has been at best complicated, and at worst obstructed, by Pakistan’s ambiguous relationship with the Taleban and al-Qaeda. The relationship dates from the 1980s when the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency helped the CIA to funnel cash and arms to bin Laden and other members of the Mujahidin resistance against Soviet forces. In the 1990s the ISI tried to offset Indian influence in Afghanistan by supporting the Taleban. The militants were sheltering bin Laden, who had by then turned his attention to attacking the US. After 9/11 America made it clear that Pakistan had no choice but to co-operate in the War on Terror — and pressed it to purge the ISI of Taleban and al-Qaeda sympathisers.
But it continued to play a double game — most controversially airlifting hundreds, possibly thousands, of Taleban, al-Qaeda and ISI operatives out of the northern Afghan region of Kunduz in November 2001. Later that month more al-Qaeda fighters — probably including bin Laden — escaped from the southeastern Afghan region of Tora Bora by slipping over the border into Pakistan. Pakistani intelligence officials said that it had become difficult to track bin Laden after that because he stopped using satellite phones. In 2006 al-Zawahiri had narrowly escaped death in Bajaur when he was targeted by a US drone. Western military commanders tend to scoff at Pakistan’s failure to deal with bin Laden.Those with longer memories draw parallels with the Faqir of Ipi, an insurgent commander who dragged the British into one of their most costly counter-insurgency campaigns of the 20th century. Between 1936 and 1947 he tied up thousands of British troops along the same tribal frontier in a futile series of operations to capture him. The Faqir died in 1960, alone, at peace, and still very much at liberty 14 years after the British had departed. Source: Times Online
August 3 Al Qaeda's second-in-command has accused President Obama of supporting a Palestinian state that would do the bidding of Israel. "Obama wants a Palestinian state that works as a branch for the Israeli government," Ayman al-Zawahiri said in a nearly 90-minute video called, "The Realities of Jihad and the Fallacies of Hypocrisy." The latest in a series of such videos was posted Monday on radical Islamist Web sites by al Qaeda's production company, As-Sahab Media. "Israel is a crime that needs to be wiped out," said al-Zawahiri, who likened Obama's policies to those of President Bush. "The promises of the two states and ending the settlements were made by Bush, so what's new? This is the continuation of the same Zionist crusader crime against Muslims since the end of World War II," he said. "Obama can come with all the eloquent words he has, but it is nothing but illusions." Al-Zawahiri referred to a conditional truce offer he said had been made by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. "The mujahedeen opened the doors to start a new relationship, but [the Americans] insist that their relationships with the Muslim world must be based on hurting us and oppressing us," he said. He had nothing but scorn for Obama's work. "What new did Obama bring us," he asked. "He brought us the bombing of Gaza where 1,000 martyrs died. He brought us the destruction in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. What else? He expanded the American prisons so they can absorb more innocent Muslims." Al-Zawahiri referred to U.S. anti-terrorism efforts since the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York as a series of failures. "After seven and a half years, their campaign failed in Iraq and in Afghanistan just like it failed in Somalia and will fail in Pakistan," he said. "The only reason the American administration changed its policy from Bush's motto that you are either with them or against them to Obama's saying that he wants to deal with the Islamic world based on a new policy [is] because of the heavy losses that they suffered from by the hands of the mujahedeen." Al-Zawahiri vowed that the mujahedeen will not be deterred. "They will face that campaign no matter how long it will last, even till Judgment Day. No surrender, no defeat, no submission, no retreat when it comes to the right of the Muslims and their pride." He praised insurgents in Afghanistan and Taliban leader Mullah Omar for daring to challenge the world's biggest superpower, saying, "This is an achievement by itself because it stood for its pride, dignity and lands." Iran, too, was an object of criticism for the al Qaeda leader, who said Iranian leaders "never supported the Palestinians in Gaza, they didn't launch any rocket to aid them as they promised to do if Israel attacks Lebanon -- or is it that the Palestinians are second-class citizens?" He added, "Iran is ready to sell out the Muslims anytime and aid the crusaders in their campaign against them." Source: CNN
US spy agencies are “80 to 85 per cent” sure that Saad bin Laden is dead, a senior counterterrorism official told National Public Radio, while acknowledging that it was difficult to be completely sure without a body on which DNA tests could be conducted.
Saad bin Laden, the al-Qa’ida leader's third-oldest son, is believed to have been killed by Hellfire missiles fired from a US Predator drone.
The United States has put Pakistan at the heart of the fight against al-Qa'ida. The US military and the Central Intelligence Agency are the only forces that deploy drones to the region.
Officials at the CIA and the US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, said they could not immediately confirm the report.
Earlier this year, former US spy chief Mike McConnell said the younger bin Laden, who is alleged to have worked for al-Qa'ida in Iran, either escaped or was released from house arrest in Iran and was likely in Pakistan.
Also in January, in the dying days of the administration of president George W. Bush, the US Treasury Department froze the assets of Saad bin Laden and three other al-Qa'ida operatives.
According to the Treasury, Saad bin Laden, who is believed to be in his 20s, was part of a small group of al-Qa'ida operatives who helped manage the organisation from Iran, where he was arrested in 2003.
He also allegedly helped facilitate communication between al-Qa'ida's number two leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, following an al-Qa'ida attack on the US embassy in Yemen in 2008.
Saad bin Laden was active in al-Qa'ida but not a major player, the official said, adding he was simply “in the wrong place at the wrong time”, having not been important enough to be targeted personally.
NPR said it was not known whether Saad bin Laden was close to the location of his father, who is believed to be hiding in the rugged mountainous tribal belt along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, when he died.
“We make a big deal out of him because of his last name,” the official said.
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by Khaled Abu Toameh
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