Al-Qaeda's number two also tries to portray himself as an "altruistic" defender of Pakistan and its people (and their "charming" language). Still, that Zawahiri is bent on inciting Pakistanis against Musharraf implies that the latter is doing something right? Or is this some sort of grand taqiyya of "reverse psychology" proportions? One never knows. "Qaeda's Zawahiri slams Musharraf as 'enemy of Islam'," from AFP, August 16:
DUBAI (AFP) — Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri slammed Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf as an enemy of Islam, in a first audio message in English posted online on Saturday.Ah, finally dawned on the doc that English is an extremely infidel tongue.In the message, excerpts of which were aired by Pakistan's ARY One television last week, Zawahiri also dismissed the Pakistani army as a "band of mercenaries" controlled by the US administration.
"Pervez (Musharraf) has proven himself to be one of the biggest enemies of Islam, if the not the biggest," Zawahiri said in the purported message, which was posted on a website usually used by Islamist militant groups.
He chided Musharraf for offering "all support to topple the Muslim emirate in Afghanistan," referring to the US-led war which defeated the Taliban regime in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
"Is the Pakistan Army an army defending Muslims, or merely a security service agency or a band of mercenaries which kills Muslims ... to please its masters, the neo-crusaders in the White House," he said, in an apparent attempt to incite Muslim Pakistanis against the army.
"It is evident that during the past years, the Pakistan army's primary duty has been to take part in the killing of Muslims from Kabul to Islamabad," he charged.
He said that the army "assault" on the Red Mosque in Islamabad, in July 2007, "exposed the ugly anti-Islamic face of the military leadership of Pakistan."
Egyptian-born Zawahiri said he chose to speak in English against his wish in order to address the people of Pakistan in a language they can understand, saying he would have spoken in Urdu had he mastered the "charming" language.
Zawahiri, a physician, also said that he went to Pakistan first in 1980, to help treat the Mujahedeen (holy warriors) wounded in the war in Afghanistan against the Russians.He was forced to leave in the early 1990s due to American pressure, Zawahiri said.
"I stayed no more than six years in Pakistan, mostly in Peshawar," he said.
"All of us have enjoyed the warm welcome and the caring attention of most Pakistanis, which has been most evident during the past crusade being carried out by Pervez and his hunting dogs, in compliance with orders of their master in Washington," he said.
Musharraf, a staunch ally of the United States in its "war on terror", is facing immense pressure to step down as the government prepares to file impeachment charges against him next week.
The fugitive Zawahiri was briefly rumoured to have died in a July 28 missile strike in Pakistan, but US intelligence and Pakistan's Taliban movement subsequently denied the reports.
"It is evident that during the past years, the Pakistan army's primary duty has been to take part in the killing of Muslims from Kabul to Islamabad," he charged.
But the army has only been killing Moslems that seem to think THEIR primary duty is to kill other Moslems. So now he wants Moslems to kill Moslems who are killing other Moslems, who in turn are killing still other Moslems. Whew! This is getting complicated. Talk about the "war of all against all"!
with friends like Musharraf, who needs enemies?
Poor Mushie. He just can't seem to please anyone!
Of course the lying toerag can speak to them in their own languages, should he want to.
As for denouncing Musharraf, he has had years to do that, and he never felt the urge to broadcast to the nation before. So why do it when the bloke is retiring anyway?
That's why I think the significance of this broadcast lies elsewhere. I think he is communicating with Pak terrorists in/from the UK, and it may well be a pre-arranged code entirely unrelated to Musharraf.
It seems a lot of people envision a post-Musharraf Pakistan as a budding democracy, led by a freedom loving judiciary.
I'm afraid I have a rather less optimistic view of the future of Pakistan. As much as I hate to in any way defend a meretricious, autocratic figure who seized power in a military coup, I think things are likely to get a lot worse in Pakistan after Musharraf.
There is a small quasi-democratic movement--although even this is much less democratic than the West would like to think--exemplified by a small percentage of the judiciary and the late Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan People's Party. However, I think this movement is completely dwarfed by pro-Islamist elements.
These two groups are loosely allied, for now, by a strong dislike of Musharraf. I don't believe this "alliance" will survive Musharraf's ouster for even a moment.
The Islamist (or pro-jihad, or hard-line, or pro-shari'ah, or whatever else you would like to call it) faction is not only much larger that the mostly professional and middle-class quasi-democratic faction, it is also far more ruthless.
Pakistan is already a terrorist-supporting Shari'ah state. But I think support for the neighboring Taliban and a semi-autonamous North-West frontier is going to become a lot more blatant, that the rights of women and minorities are going to be further trampled, and that even small anti-jihadist actions, like the crackdown on the red mosque, are going to become much rarer events, or cease altogether.
None of this bodes well for Pakistan's neighbors, Taliban-beset Afghanistan and India, especially. I think Pakistan-supported terrorism against India is going to get a lot worse.
Anyone who stands against al Qaeda is an enemy of Islam, something the billion "peaceful" Muslims in the world need to consider. Which side are they on?
This is great news...one muslim dictator threatening the life of another. Sun Tzu would be proud...
MONTY: "As for denouncing Musharraf, he has had years to do that, and he never felt the urge to broadcast to the nation before. So why do it when the bloke is retiring anyway?"
RESPONSE: Since 911, Al Qaeda has made at least three attempts on the life of Musharraf and they have issued repeated calls for the Pakistanis to rise up and overthrow him.
Considering Mushy is on his way out, isn't this too little too late? Actually, a good Islam inspired civil war in Pakistan might be what the Muslim world needs to wake up. Do they want Talibanization or modernism?
I think this is either someone claiming to be Zawahiri or else Zawahiri is indirectly supporting musharraf. The timing shows it. He has never told such things in past (as for the attacks on musharraf's life, they might just be an eyewash to prove to the world that the jihadis are after musharraf and to just boost his image, in front of the western world as a great leader. It has to be noted that he was unhurt each time and Benazir was not so lucky) because here the true intention seems not to turn people against him, or to make some harm to him, but to make the people in west seem that Musharraf had done a great job as an ally to the west in war of terror (WHICH HE CERTAINLY HASN'T DONE BUT HE HAS BEEN PLAYING A DOUBLE GAME WITH THE JIHADIS AS WELL AS THE WESTERN WORLD) Now as he is resigning (ofcourse forcefully and that too with no options left) he is hell bent on making his image as a nice leader and a true ally of the west. Thats why this is told @ this time. Actually this is a delibrate image building propaganda for musharraf (who badly certainly needs it this time) and thats why THIS WAS PARTICULARLY DELIVERED IN ENGLISH SO THAT PEOPLE IN THE WEST CAN READ IT AND UNDERSTAND IT.