What does Al-Qaeda believe and want?

(CNN) -- Osama bin Laden's No. 2 man in al Qaeda has threatened more destruction in London, saying that British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be to blame.

In a video broadcast Thursday on Arabic-language TV station Al Jazeera Ayman al-Zawahiri also issued a warning for the United States.

"Our message is clear -- what you saw in New York and Washington (in 2001) and what you are seeing in Afghanistan and Iraq, all these are nothing compared to what you will see next."

"To the British, I am telling you that Blair brought you destruction in the middle of London and more will come, God willing," he said.

He appeared to be referring to the two attacks on London's transit system on July 7 and July 21. The first bombings killed 52 commuters and the four bombers. No one was killed in the second attack, in which the bombs failed to detonate.

Al-Zawahiri, a 54-year-old Egyptian doctor, is bin Laden's closest adviser. After the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, the U.S. State Department offered a $25 million award for information leading to al-Zawahiri's apprehension.

He also warned the United States to "stop stealing our oil and wealth and stop supporting corrupt rulers."

"If you continue your politics against Muslims, you will see, God willing, such horror that you will forget the horrors of Vietnam."

Al-Zawahiri reminded the United States and its allies of the "hudna" (truce) that bin Laden offered last year in return for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Muslim lands.

"Didn't Osama bin Laden tell you that you would never dream of peace until we actually live it in Palestine and before all the infidel armies withdraw from the land of Mohammed?

"Instead (of accepting the truce), you spilled rivers of blood in our countries, and we exploded volcanoes of anger in your countries."

He told the American people that their leaders are lying to them about the Iraq war and called for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces.

"The truth that has been kept from you by (President) Bush, (Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice and (Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld is that there is no way out of Iraq without immediate withdrawal, and any delay on this means only more dead, more losses.

"If you don't leave today, certainly you will leave tomorrow, and after tens of thousands of dead, and double that figure in disabled and wounded."

A U.S. intelligence official told CNN the video was being analyzed, but quickly pointed out that "there has never been a false tape" from al-Zawahiri.

Another U.S. official did not read much into the fact that al-Zawahiri and not bin Laden made the videotape. The official said there have been few videotapes of bin Laden since the September 11 attacks, and most of the time it has been hard to determine when the tapes were made because there is either no audio or the message did not contain any timely references.

Bush defiant
Bush was unswayed. "He's saying, you know, 'Leave,'" he told reporters at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he had just met Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

The U.S. president described the ideology of al-Zawahiri and his adherents as "dark, dim, backwards. They don't appreciate women. If you don't agree to their narrow view of a religion, you'll be whipped in the public square." (Full story)

Their goal, he said, is to spread their point of view throughout the world, starting in the "broader Middle East. And part of their goal is to drive us out of the broader Middle East."

But Bush said the United States would not bend to the threats of al Qaeda or of al-Zawahiri.

"They're terrorists, they're killers and they will kill innocent people trying to get us to withdraw from the world so they can impose their dark vision on the world. That's what they're trying to do, and the comments today by Mr. Zawahiri absolutely reinforce what I have just told you. We will stay the course; we will complete the job in Iraq."

Bush said U.S. troops would return only "when those Iraqis are prepared to fight. As Iraq stands up, our coalition will stand down."

He said Iraqis want to live in a free society. "Zawahiri doesn't want them to live in a free society, and that's the clash of ideologies: freedom versus tyranny. We've had these kinds of clashes before, and we have prevailed. We have prevailed because we're right, we have prevailed because we adhere to a hopeful philosophy and we have prevailed because we would not falter."

The last time bin Laden released a statement was in an audiotape late last December when he praised Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and designated him the al Qaeda leader in Iraq.

Al-Zawahiri made no mention of the July 23 bombings in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh that killed at least 83 people and injured more than 200 others, which could indicate the tape was made before that date.

CNN International Assignment editor Hayat Mongodin, Senior Investigative Producer Henry Schuster and Senior National Security Producer Pam Benson contributed to this report.


I'm going to post any research I find into what Al-Qaeda is all about. Someone I care about may be interested in joining them, and they want me to research the topic. I thought it best if we keep it in one place.

 

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Oh thats a new one. I had not heard that. What was the response to this proposal?

 

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Al Qaeda’s second objective, as identified by Al Adl, was to signal and support
the “emergence of a new virtuous leadership” dedicated to opposing “the
Zionist-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant coalition” that Al Qaeda blames for a litany of social
and political ills in the Islamic world. Analysts have associated this stated objective
with Al Qaeda leaders’ views of themselves as the vanguard of a broader global
Islamic movement and their desire to inspire political upheaval and change across the
Islamic world. The third and “ultimate objective,” according to Al Adl, “was to
prompt [the United States] to come out of its hole.” Al Adl claims that Al Qaeda
wanted to provoke the United States into attacking areas of the Islamic world
associated with the organization and its affiliates. In doing so, Al Adl claims, Al
Qaeda hoped to make it easier to attack elements of U.S. power and to build its
“credibility in front of [the Islamic] nation and the beleaguered people of the world.”

Interesting stuff. I found this here: http://images.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/050622/alqaeda_crs.pdf

 

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What do you think of this? Are they right/wrong?

 

Really? That's a bit dated-2004 or 05. I think the west said no on the grounds that the demands of a religious minority carry no weight, but I could be mistaken.

 

In the eyes of Al-Qaeda? The idea is correct, of course. In the eyes of the somewhat sane? Not so much.

 

Islam is a religious minority in Muslim lands? You know that the Saudis are Sunnis and constitute part of the 90% Sunni Muslims worldwide? With Iran being part of the minority 10% Shia Muslims?

So if you look at the ME, you see no influence of the west in the regime change and installation of dictators? In the Zionist Mossad in Ethiopia? In the Ethiopians [who cannot feed themselves even] having the dollars to invade Somalia? In the US giving 3 billion a year to Israel? In the "birth pangs" of the Middle East, where the US was flying in cluster bombs? In the coup where democratically elected governments are toppled [Mossadegh] or designated as terrorists [Hamas] and dictators [Saud, Shah, Saddam, Siad Barre, Musharraf] are funded and armed?

In "news" agencies like Memri which are run by the Israeli intelligence services and which "translate" news from the ME and provide it free to the west?

 

I'm sorry, by minority I meant small sect of a larger whole. Much like Southern Baptist Fundamentalists number a tiny percentage of the Christian whole.

 

And al Qaeda are a minority what?

 

Wait- are you suggesting that Al Qaeda represents good Islamic Leadership?

 

minority faction within a greater religion, I thought the comparison I made was obvious enough.

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No, they represent a bunch of people who have moved out of the Middle East, exposed themselves to western ideas and become imbued with vague ideas like nationalism. Hence they are against Saud, were against Saddam and support the Hamas and Hezbullah. They are rebels against traditional Islam which does not encourage the mixing of clergy and state. They feel that Islamic clergy should be encouraged to speak out against dictators and kings, especially those who are allied to foreign powers that help them to suppress the common people.

 

http://www.lauramansfield.com/subscribers/

This is very long, but interesting stuff...

 

Ohhhh. They are a minority group within a religion that claims to be against the religion. Like the Amish then, but into violence and death instead of peace. Interesting concept. And this was, of course, brought on by exposure to western ideas. Makes sense. Damn the West! Those Bastards!

 

Lots of words and pictures. No citations or sources. ie Republican or Zionist

check one: sourcewatch

check two: World Nut Daily

Zionist alert!!!!

check for zionist associations:

check Ariel Center

Done.

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check continued: what Zionist connection?
Contributing Experts for ACPR include:

* Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
* Meyrav Wurmser
* Moshe Sharon

MEMRI alert!!!

NEXT

check Frontpage mag:

conclusion: Usual MEMRI cut and paste propganda.

 

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/188003.php

Interesting. This is Al-Qaeda's buddies, The Taliban, teaching something new to a 12 year old boy. Knowledge is always a good thing, right.

 

beheadings happen every time a drug pusher is caught in Saudi Arabia. Probably the same punishment meted out by the Taliban when they banned the opium trade [restarted by the CIA now] Again, more pictures and words, allegations and nothing more.

 

It has become sensibly fashionable to regard al-Qaeda as a cutting-edge, postmodern
phenomenon – an information-age network, or network of networks.
But this emphasis misses a crucial point: Al-Qaeda and affiliates are using the
information age to reiterate ancient patterns of tribalism on a global scale. They
are operating much like a global tribe waging segmental warfare.

Interesting as well. I found this here: http://www.rand.org/pubs/reprints/2008/RAND_RP1371.pdf

 

Tribalism? Do you even know who Osama is?

 

Could you reply to this? I hate to be misinformed.

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