Ayman-al-zawahari Released What Can Be Considered An Anniversary Message
Al-Zawahari
Have you heard of Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri ? His name is related to Islamic terrorism today and he can be considered a quite emblematic figure in most terrorist attacks that took place in the world.
Among the best known terrorist attacks in which he was involved, we can mention the bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, events that took place in August 7, 1998.
Ayman al-Zawahiri came to be known as the leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group which he merged with Osama bin-Laden’s al-Qaeda group to create the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders. He also plays the role of Queda’s ideological leader.
Coming from a prominent and religiously conservative family, he joined the so called Muslim Brotherhood at the age of just fourteen, and in 1979 he joined the Egyptian radical Islamic Jihad (EIJ). This organization opposes the secular Egyptian Government and seeks its overthrow through violent means. In approximately 1998, the EIJ led by Al-Zawahiri merged with Al Qaeda.
With a 5 million $ reward offered for information leading to his arrest he seems to be one of the most “wanted” person in the whole world of terrorism, and he surely is one. Being sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian court in 1999 for the role he played in organizing a number of deadly terrorist attacks, and in particular the massacre of fifty-eight tourists in Luxor in 1997, he seems to be in a quite safe place since he released a radio message today, a message that is meant to mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In his message, Al-Zawahiri urges Muslims to join Jihad and embrace its beliefs and way of life.
According to a transcript provided by the SITE Institute, an American group that monitors jihadist Internet postings, the speech, was released in Arabic on a video with English, Urdu, and Pashto subtitles. In it Al-Zawahiri offers condolences to the Muslim Ummah in Pakistan, after the country has been affected by the recent floods and accuses Pakistan’s government of doing too little for its people. He mentions in the message that he whishes “he had been midst his people in Pakistan”, so that he could provide them with the aid and relief they were in need of. He speaks about what he calls “two honors: of relief work and Jihad”.
He considers that the Pakistani ruling class and the army in Pakistan have betrayed the country and its people by choosing to help “senior criminals in Washington, London and Tel Aviv. According to him, the government’s ruling class in Pakistan, as well as the army, continue to place their own prosperity on a higher level instead of being more preoccupied of the people’s welfare.
In the released message he harshly criticizes Asif Alli Zardari, the Pakistan’s president, calling him a “thief” who doesn’t care about the victims of the recent floods that struck Pakistan.
The recent floods in Pakistan have affected approximately 20 million people, submerging thousands of villages, killing around 1,500 people and impoverishing many other people.
In the radio message sent by Al-Zawahari today, he appears to instigate the people of Pakistan against “the deteriorating conditions and corrupt state of affairs in Pakistan”.
In the same message released today, he calls the Pakistan army who killed Abdul Rahman al-Kanady – a martyr in his vision – an agent of the forces of the Global Crusade.
Al -Zawahari considers the NATO forces to be some sort of evil forces “which are coming and going as they please in Pakistan”, being helped by the almighty and evil forces embodied by the Pakistani army and government.
In his speech embracing Jihad’s beliefs becomes a matter of “being loyal to the believers and hostile to the unbelievers”.
He specifies that nine years have passed since the beginning of the contemporary Crusade, Crusade which “began with the attack on the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan”.
Therefore the message delivered today by Al-Zawahari seems to be some kind of an anniversary of the 9 years that have passed since the attacks in the United States took place.
In it, he indirectly accuses The United States of America, which he calls “the Crusader West”, of having resorted to “ruses, machinations, bribes and buying of loyalties” in order to make people in Afghanistan and Iraq abandon the belief in Jihad.
Al-Zawahari accuses the governments of the Islamic countries to have committed treachery and to have been involved in the “Crusaders’fight against Muslims”, some of them being a part in the Crusaders’governments.
In the 44-minute speech Mr. Zawahari also says that the past nine years have made clear that there are two “orientations” for Muslims: the path of jihad, and the path of surrender and defeat. When talking about the path of surrender and defeat, he mentions Mohamed ElBaradei, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, an agency which has militated for reform in Egypt.
The recording was posted on some Islamist websites, websites which are well-known for being frequently used by al-Qaeda, bearing the following name: “A Victorious Ummah, A Broken Crusade: Nine Years After the Start of the Crusader Campaign”.
All along his speech he urges Pakistanis and Turkish Muslims to start a fight against their governments, as the two countries’ governments are being involved in Afghanistan.
“…The Muslim Turkish people must confront the behavior of their government, which is participating in the Muslim-killing campaign in Afghanistan,” he said.
“The same holds true for the government of Pakistan.”
By releasing this message it seems that annually on September 11th a message will be released by either of the two Al-Qaeda leaders, Bin-Laden or Al-Zawahari, as it is the case this year.
Last year, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, believed to be hiding in the same area, released an audio tape marking the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Al-Zawahri, along with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, is believed to be hiding in Pakistan’s remote areas close to the border with Afghanistan where they are said to have rebuilt Al-Qaeda and from time to time, as it was the case now, they urge more and more Muslims to embrace Jihad.
