Should be fun watching the spin on this one:
Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri lashed out at US President Barack Obama Tuesday on the eve of his visit to the Middle East, urging Egyptians to shun him.
Zawahiri, who is himself an Egyptian, portrayed Obama’s June 4 visit to Cairo as being at the invitation of the “torturers of Egypt” and the “slaves of America.”
“His bloody messages were received and are still being received by Muslims, and they will not be concealed by public relations campaigns or by farcical visits or elegant words,” Zawahiri said.
The audio recording of Zawahiri’s speech was embedded in a comparatively brief 11 minute, 40 second video produced by As Sahab Media, Al-Qaeda’s propaganda arm, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. It was posted on jihadist web forums.
I vaguely remember being told during the election that Al Qaeda wanted Obama to win. Also, considering al-Zawahiri already has the most dangerous job in the world, Al-Qaeda #2, I’d think he’d want to keep a low profile.
asiangrrlMN
What, huh? I don’t even understand what he is trying to say. I mean, it’s like I’m reading Michelle Malkin or something. Man, al-Qaeda must be in desperate straits right now.
Death By Mosquito Truck
Clearly it means Obama is one of the moderate muslims. Muslim factions fight all the time. They’ll come together and destroy us for our freedoms when we least expect it, like during the Super Bowl.
Zifnab
@asiangrrlMN: Haha. Maybe Malkin will quote him. I can see the headlines:
“Al Qaeda and I finally agree on something”.
And we’ll be able to sit back and laugh and laugh and cry a little.
John Cole
@asiangrrlMN: You’re kind of right- I thought it was translation issues, but his comment does have a kind of “late night Friday Red State Diary” kind of quality.
The Grand Panjandrum
The meme was the #2 AQ in Iraq guy was always getting his ass shot off or blown up. Zawahiri has been #2 for the mothership AQ for quite a while. He and Osama bin Laden have been pretty safe since March 2003.
asiangrrlMN
@Zifnab: I would crack up laughing if this came to pass. MM and al-Qaeda agreeing on something. Then, TBogg would have to make fun of her, and it would be high comedy.
@John Cole:
Heh. I much prefer the late-night Friday Tunch live-camera blogging at BJ +5.
Martin
Some wonder if it is responsible to speculate based on this evidence that Michelle Malkin and Ayman al-Zawahiri are in fact the same person. I think it would be irresponsible not to.
Shabbazz
Even though al-Qaeda doesn’t really want him to win, you can see how, given the Democrat pendency for surrendering the fight, I wouldn’t be so wrong to believe that they did. Right?
Surreal American
You don’t understand. Al-Qaeda is trying to give plausible deniability to B Hussein Obama because he is instrumental in their long term goals to enslave Americans under the revived caliphate and, and, and…
Jeebus, My head hurts. I could never troll Red State/Free Republic on a long term basis having to post delusional bull pucky like that day-in and day-out.
Little Dreamer
They were as correct on this as they were on the link between AQ and Saddam…. which is not at all.
JL
John, Sorry to go ot but I am trying to send Andrew Sullivan a note and I am being blocked because I am on gmail… Can someone help me out. This is my note
So how can I send it? The site keeps asking for att info that I don’t have.
Jim-Bob
Alqaeda #2 = Spinal Tap drummer (or Grateful Dead keyboardist).
Bubblegum Tate
@Shabbazz:
Exactly. This is a perfect opportunity for a rebunking. Indeed, it is central to the wingnuts’ point.
Wile E. Quixote
@John Cole
Hah! That’s what the international Islamo-fascist conspiracy wants you to think. See, they want you to think that they oppose Obama while in fact he is secretly a member of their conspiracy, which is why he won’t show anyone his birth certificate. Also the Scott Roeder is a liberal who shot George Tiller to make Operation Rescue look bad and the Oklahoma City bombing was actually performed by islamic terrorists who framed Timothy McVeigh and the militia movement to damage the Republican party and give Bill Clinton the power to pass laws confiscating our guns and making us all get married to people of the same sex and have lots and lots of abortions. It’s obvious once you see through the Serbian Jew Double Bluff
I think I’m going to start using the expression “Al-Qaeda #2” as in “Yeah, I ate a bunch of hot wings and jalapeno poppers last night and now I’ve got to take a real Al-Qaeda #2” or “Dude, if you’re going to take an Al-Qaeda #2 can we at least have a courtesy flush?”
benjoya
torturers of Egypt
well, the Egyptian government does torture. So do/did we; what’s my point?
serge
Hasn’t al-Zawahiri been killed like seventeen times now?
Linus
To be fair, people, Zawahiri has been the #2 of al-Qaeda for a very long time (check out the Wikipedia page, for example). The apparent multiple and repeated slaughterings of al-Qaeda’s so-called #2 usually referred either to the #2 in Iraq, or were just wrong.
Dreggas
I was back in NY for my sister’s funeral over memorial day and I kid you not both of my parents act like birthers. They claim the copy of the birth certificate shown is not the real thing so therefore Obama may not be a citizen.
It’s sad really, my folks used to be intelligent, independent thinkers but now thanks to Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and WingNutNews they’ve become walking zombies. It’s sad when every time you turn on the tv there it automatically goes to the Fox News channel, channel.
Bill E Pilgrim
Any relation that Wingnut America’s rantings may have to the actual world is entirely, and rarely, coincidental.
There should be a big disclaimer at all airports and ports of entry, like a big mission accomplished-sized banner.
The two sets of extremists, ours and theirs, couldn’t function without their willing and mutual cooperation.
Brachiator
Being Al-Qaeda #2 is much like being a redshirt on the original Star Trek series.
Krissed Off
OMG. Al Qaeda threw Obama under the bus.
You bastards!
tc125231
You know, I really enjoy this blog.
However, occassionally it reminds me of the dangers of the congregation of the like minded.
We tend to egg each other on.
I have to admit it can be pretty funny, though.
tc125231
@Bill E Pilgrim:
bago
I thought torture was supposed to help us defeat these extremists…. Do you see what happens when we stop torturing people!!!
ppcli
Yep, Egypt does torture. In fact, they tortured Zawahiri brutally and at length when he was arrested as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood after Sadat’s assassination. That made a big contribution toward turning a religious fanatic physician into a mass-murdering psycho religious fanatic physician.
.
More proof that torture works.
Notorious P.A.T.
@Jim-Bob:
My hat’s off to you, sir.
“It was one of those things that was better left unsovled”.
Mike
Second or third the thing about Az-Zawahiri being AQ’s #2 since well before 9/11. Think you mean #1 or 2 of AQ in Iraq or the AQ operations chiefs post-9/11.
LD50
This fact would not convince wingnuts that torture was counterproductive. It would merely convince them that whenever America tortures someone, the person who is tortured must then be held in captivity forever.
Dulcie
@Dreggas: I’m so sorry for your loss.
Gus
I thought the really dangerous job was AQ’s #3.
aww
Gus beat me to it.
The most dangerous position in al-qaeda is “#3”.
Steeplejack
@JL:
Are you just addressing your message to [email protected]? That’s what worked for me in the past when I wrote Sullivan.
I don’t get this. Just use your regular e-mail program, send the message to the address above, and it should work.
Ian Welsh
AQ2 isn’t dangerous. AQ3 is. He’s been AQ2 forever, and he’s still alive.
Jim-Bob
P.A.T.
After all, you can’t really dust for vomit.
jayackroyd
What is he trying to say? He is trying to speak to the rank and file Egyptian. They regard the Egyptian (and Saudi) governments as apostate puppets of the US government. This position is not without reason or support. The trouble with running out this line in Egypt is that the Brotherhood has significantly ratcheted down its extremism.
Obama does indeed make it harder to portray the US as an intolerant, irrational imperialist. But there is still quite a bit to be said in support of an “imperialist” claim.
jayackroyd
ppcli
Not to mention torturing al Qutb, the intellectual father of the modern islamist movement.
Hilzoy today wonders whether we will be torturing Tiller’s murderer. Could be a ticking time bomb involved….
Mark
Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe this morning (I’m paraphrasing):
“Bin Laden’s statements should be a wakeup call to all of those foolish liberals who thought that the only reason that Al Qaida hates America is because of George W. Bush.”
lawnorder
most dangerous jobs in the world:
– Al-Qaeda #3
– Red shirted guy in Star Trek
– Chenney’s hunting buddy