January 6, 2009

Al-Qaeda #2 blames Hamas for Gaza situation -- no, wait...

Who can I scapegoat next?

Actually, he's blaming everyone else -- including such disparate characters as Hosni Mubarak and Barak Obama (who he once called a "house negro"). In his desperation, he also likens Israel's offensive to a "crusade."

"Al Qaeda No. 2 Blames Obama, Egypt's President for Gaza," from the Associated Press, January 6:

CAIRO, Egypt — An intelligence monitoring center reports that Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader is blaming Barack Obama and Egypt's president for the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

The SITE Monitoring Service says the audio statement by Ayman al-Zawahiri was posted on militant Web sites Tuesday.

This is al-Zawahiri's first comment on the crisis since the war began eleven days ago.

In a transcript of the statement released by SITE, he calls the Israeli offensive a "Crusade against Islam and Muslims" and "Obama's gift to Israel" before he takes office.

Al-Zawahiri also calls Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, a "traitor" for keeping his borders closed to Palestinians.