al-Qaida declares jihad on Al-Jazeera
- From: Shogun <shogun@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 26 Oct 2007 02:42:02 GMT
tsk tsk tsk........al-qaida hates everyone and everything. Al-Qaida even
hates Allah!!!!
By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 15 minutes ago
CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida sympathizers have unleashed a torrent of anger
against Al-Jazeera television, accusing it of misrepresenting Osama bin
Laden's latest audiotape by airing excerpts in which he criticizes
mistakes by insurgents in Iraq.
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Users of a leading Islamic militant Web forum posted thousands of
insults against the pan-Arab station for focusing on excerpts in which
bin Laden criticizes insurgents, including his followers.
Analysts said the reaction highlighted militants' surprise at bin
Laden's words, and their dismay at the deep divisions among al-Qaida and
other Iraqi militants that he appeared to be trying to heal.
"It's not about Al-Jazeera, it's about their shock from bin Laden," said
Diaa Rashwan, an Egyptian expert on Islamic militant groups. "For the
first time, bin Laden, who used to be the spiritual leader who gives
guidance, became a critic of al-Qaida and is confessing mistakes. This
is unusual."
"God fight Al-Jazeera," railed one militant Web poster, calling the
station a "collaborator with the Crusaders" for suggesting the tape
showed weakness in al-Qaida and featuring discussions of how the tape
reflected weaknesses and divisions among insurgents in Iraq.
The recording aired Monday contained unusually strong criticism of
insurgents in Iraq from bin Laden, who urges them to admit mistakes and
unify. Bin Laden even aknowledges that he advises himself not to be
"fanatical" in his stances.
"Some of you have been lax in one duty, which is to unite your ranks,"
bin Laden said. "Beware of division ... Muslims are waiting for you to
gather under a single banner to champion righteousness. Be keen to
oblige with this duty."
"I advise myself, Muslims in general and brothers in al-Qaida everywhere
to avoid extremism among men and groups," he said.
The tape was met with a cautiously positive response from at least one
insurgent coalition that has been opposed to al-Qaida.
But the Al-Fajr Media Center, which usually posts al-Qaida video and
audio tapes on the Web, accused Al-Jazeera of "counterfeiting the
facts" by making the speech appear as exclusively critical of
insurgents.
"Al-Jazeera directors have shamefully chosen to back the Crusaders'
side, and the defenders of hypocrites and the thugs and traitors of
Iraq," Al-Fajr said in a statement posted on several Islamic Web sites.
Another Web contributor even rattled off a five-stanza poem of rhymed
couplets, comparing the station to a "miserable fly in the garbage" and
concluding, "Your day will come, vile one. As long as we live, you won't
be safe, Jazeera."
Few of the thousands of messages posted by contributors on the Web sites
? who are only identified by usernames ? called for direct violence
against Al-Jazeera. Most instead urged that the full bin Laden tape be
distributed as widely as possible on the Web to show its true message.
The full 30-minute audio was posted on Islamic Web sites the day after
excerpts were aired by Al-Jazeera. It features long sections praising
insurgents for their "holy war" against U.S. and Iraqi troops and urging
Iraqis to join them.
The editor-in-chief of the Qatar-based station, Ahmed Sheik, refused to
comment on the criticism but said the tape had not been misrepresented.
"Every time, we deal with their tapes same way we did last time," he
told The Associated Press.
Bin Laden's message came at a time of deepening splits in the Sunni Arab
insurgency in Iraq. Some insurgent groups have formed a coalition
rivaling one set up by al-Qaida in Iraq. Other factions have broken away
and joined U.S. troops in fighting al-Qaida. A group of Sunni Arab
tribes in the western province of Anbar also have campaigned against al-
Qaida.
The splits are believed to have been caused by anger over al-Qaida
attempts to dominate the insurgency as well as by its killings of Sunni
tribal leaders and its attempts to impose Taliban-like rules.
The spokesman of one coalition of insurgents opposed to al-Qaida
welcomed bin Laden's call and even left open the possibility of working
with al-Qaida if its mistakes were corrected.
"We don't want to get ahead of ourselves ... but the subject is put
forward before the council," Khattab Abdul-Rahman al-Jabbouri, spokesman
of the Political Council of the Iraqi Resistance, told Al-Jazeera in an
interview.
He said al-Qaida in Iraq's actions "damaged the social fabric of the
Iraqi people." But "if someone corrects their mistake, no matter who
they are, then that is a good thing. That's what we hope for today, so
that we can end the mistakes and unify our ranks so we can be a single
line against the aggressor," he said.
Kara Driggers, Mideast analyst for the Terrorism Research Center, said
bin Laden's criticisms of al-Qaida in Iraq and his rhetoric addressing
all Iraqis ? including tribal leaders ? "seems to have brought more
authority to the request (for unity) and the groups are taking it more
seriously."
But Eric Rosenbach, a terror expert and executive director of research
at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International
Affairs, said the splits will be difficult to mend, pointing out that
Sunni tribal leaders in Iraq view bin Laden as being as foreign as the
Americans.
____
Associated Press Writer Carley Petesch in New York contributed to this
report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071026/ap_on_re_mi_ea/bin_laden_tape
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