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PESHAWAR: After fighting brief skirmishes against militants, the Pakistan Army plans to unfold in the next few days what military officials characterise as the mother of all battles in South Waziristan, senior military and security officials said on Thursday. ‘If we don’t take the battle to them, they will bring the battle to us,’ a senior military official said of the militants. ‘The epicentre of the behemoth called the Taliban lies in South Waziristan, and this is where we will be fighting the toughest of all battles.’ For three months, the military has been drawing up plans, holding in-depth deliberations...

Buried in a story in today’s New York Times is a fantastic notion - which is nevertheless entirely consistent with The Times’ worldview - that Obama’s win was a psychological defeat for terrorism. The story is about a tape released by Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s chief lieutenant, who referred to President-elect Obama as a “house Negro.” The article suggests that Al Qaeda is lashing out. The Times claims, “American antiterrorism officials and other experts dismissed the video as a desperate tactic by a terrorist group that suffered a defeat in the global war of ideas with Mr. Obama’s election”...

The nation's first serious black candidate for president should be outraged that al-Qaida would try to exploit African-Americans for the terror cause. Oddly, he's not. Osama bin Laden's deputy last week made a sinister pitch to blacks in the U.S., and Barack Obama shrugged.Al-Qaida's Ayman al-Zawahri earlier this month courted blacks by frequently invoking Malcolm X, aka Al-Hajj Malik al-Shabazz, a past leader of the Nation of Islam.Shamelessly, al-Zawahri encouraged blacks to join al-Qaida's holy war against the American "oppressor," and sacrifice their blood against "injustice" like the "struggler and martyr" Malcolm X.He noted that the Muslim civil-rights leader condoned...

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri, rejecting criticism of attacks by the terror network's followers that have killed thousands, maintained Wednesday that it does not kill innocent people. His comment came during a 90-minute audio response that was billed as the first installment of answers to the more than 900 questions submitted on extremist Internet sites by al-Qaida supporters, critics and journalists in December. "We haven't killed the innocents, not in Baghdad, nor in Morocco, nor in Algeria, nor anywhere else," al-Zawahri said, according to a 46-page English transcript that accompanied the audio message posted on Web sites...

The recent release of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) asserting that al-Qaeda has regrouped in Pakistan has resulted in a significant amount of debate about the Global War on Terror and the efforts the United States is undertaking in its prosecution of that war. While congressmen, media pundits, military analysts and others weigh-in with their respective opinions, it is important to accurately define al-Qaeda and remind Americans of the goals sought by the group's members. The al-Qaeda that most people think of is the al-Qaeda of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri, the group that hijacked four American airliners and...

<p>CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Al-Qaida's No. 2 has issued a new video tape calling on Muslims to unite in jihad, or holy war, and support the Islamist movement in Iraq, a U.S.-based intelligence monitoring group said Wednesday.</p> <p>Ayman al-Zawahri is seen in the one-hour and 35 minutes tape dressed in white and addressing topics from Iraq to Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian territories and Egypt, said the U.S.-based SITE intelligence group, which monitors al-Qaida messages.</p>

Al-Qaida leader calls moderate Arabs 'traitors'http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.world31dec31,0,4421031.story?coll=bal-attack-headlines CAIRO, Egypt // The deputy leader of al-Qaida accused moderate Arab leaders of being traitors for cooperating with the United States in a message posted on the Internet yesterday to mark the most important Islamic holiday. Ayman al-Zawahri's wished the Palestinian people a happy Eid al-Adha, but lashed out at moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement. "Those who had sold Palestine, the secular traitors, cannot be your brothers. Do not recognize their legitimacy. ... And don't sit with them," al-Zawahri said in a 15-minute audiotape message that was posted on a...

Brian Ross and Hoda Osman Report: Al Qaeda has sent a message to leaders of the Democratic party that credit for the defeat of congressional Republicans belongs to the terrorists. In a portion of the tape from al Qaeda No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri, made available only today, Zawahri says he has two messages for American Democrats. "The first is that you aren't the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost. Rather, the Mujahideen -- the Muslim Ummah's vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq -- are the ones who won, and the American...

Reuters - AL QAEDA'S ZAWAHRI, IN NEW VIDEO, SAYS ARAB GULF STATES, ISRAEL TO BE TARGETED

Saudi Wealth Fuels Global Jihadism Posted Oct. 27, 2003 By Kenneth R. Timmerman Generations of Muslims in the Middle East have been raised on the anti-Western, anti-Semitic theologies of Ayatollah Khomeini and in the Saudi Wahhabi system of madrassas (religious schools). This foundation set the stage for the rise of Osama bin Laden. Doaa 'Amer is a professional TV anchor who hosts Muslim Woman Magazine on IQRAA TV, a satellite channel broadcasting throughout the Arab world. As she tells it, her job is to educate the next generation of children to be "true Muslims." Readers accustomed to hearing Islam described...

An ultra-radical Islamic ideology mixing zealot-like devotion and holy war creed is drawing more scrutiny in anti-terrorist probes from the Middle East to Europe — with increasing indications that its base on the fringes of Islamic extremism could be widening. In existence since the 1960s, al-Takfir wa al-Hijra has offered intellectual inspiration to al-Qaida and other militant groups. But authorities now worry about followers becoming more aggressive with recruitment and retaliation against perceived foes of Islam, such as Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Officials in the Netherlands say the Dutch-Moroccan suspect — accused of killing Van Gogh on a busy...

I disagree with the president on immigration, education and McCain-Finegold, but I remain one of his biggest supporters. Having said that, I must say that I worry most of all about the safety and security of my children and my grandchildren if a Democrat succeeds to the presidency in 2008. I have this worry because, although President Bush has been immense in protecting us from Islamic terrorists and in standing up to the vituperation heaped on him for so doing, he has NOT succeeded in convincing enough of the country that a global terrorist war is ongoing against us, and...

Al-Qaida Figure Backs Iraqi Insurgents Top al-Qaida Figure Ayman Al-Zawahri Urges Support for Iraqi Insurgents in Video The Associated Press (snipped) CAIRO, Egypt - No. 2 al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri praised insurgents in Iraq, particularly Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and called on all Muslims to support them in a video posted Thursday on the Internet. The video was dated with an Islamic month corresponding to November 2005 and al-Zawahri mentions an Oct. 23 earthquake that hit Pakistan and Afghanistan. But it appeared to be the first time the 28-minute video has been made public. It was not clear why the video...

Terror Suspect: 'Everyone Makes Mistakes' Thursday November 3, 2005 12:01 AM By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - After confessing to FBI agents that he joined al-Qaida and discussed plans to assassinate President Bush, an American student wrote a letter to his parents saying that ``everyone makes mistakes.'' ``I know this will be difficult for you ... but I've been detained here in Saudi Arabia for some charges of terrorism,'' wrote Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, who is on trial in federal court for conspiracy to assassinate the president, providing support to al-Qaida and other charges. ``It...

An FBI informant testified Monday in Sacramento federal court that al-Qaida’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, lived in Lodi during parts of 1998 and 1999. Naseem Khan, who is a critical prosecution witness in the trials of two Lodi men charged with having terrorist ties, testified he was living in Lodi in 1998 and 1999 and "every time I would go to the mosque (al-Zawahri) would be coming or going" from the mosque. Khan said al-Zawahri, known to the FBI as Osama bin Laden’s personal physician and top adviser, "disappeared" sometime in 1999.

Terrorists are threatening to blow up Alaska oil pipelines. Via Foxnews Alert. Fox said they were going to take guns and shoot them?

Pakistani intelligence sources on Thursday identified three of four al Qaeda members believed to have been killed by a U.S. airstrike last week, though they have yet to recover the bodies. One of the dead was said to be Abdul Rehman Al-Misri al Maghribi, a son-in-law of al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri. Another was Midhat Murfi al Sayid Omer, an expert in explosives and poisons who carried a $5 million U.S. reward on his head. The third man named was Abu Obaidah al Misri, al Qaeda's chief of operations

Pakistan on Saturday condemned a deadly airstrike on a border village that reportedly targeted al-Qaida's second-in-command, but did not directly blame the United States for the attack. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a news conference the government wanted "to assure the people we will not allow such incidents to reoccur." He said the government had no information about Ayman al-Zawahri. The statement came after U.S. networks, citing unnamed American intelligence officials, reported that a CIA-operated Predator drone aircraft carried out the missile strike Friday in the Bajur tribal region of northwestern Pakistan. At least 17 people were killed, and...

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Osama bin Laden's deputy, in a new tape that surfaced Sunday, urged all Muslims to take up arms and said their refusal to join the fight against "the Cross and Zionism" was a "malignant illness" that would only lead to the defeat of militant Islam. Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahri said the global Islamic community had "no hope for victory" until all Muslims signed on to the al-Qaida-led jihad. "As long as this malignant illness continues to survive within us, there is no hope for victory and there can only be more defeats, tragedies, disasters and betrayals," al-Zawahri...

"The World's Second Most Wanted Man" by Amir Raafat The Star (Amman) 22 November 2001 [FBIS Transcribed Text] (Note: I have inserted comments within the textof the body of the thread. They are identifiable as being enclosed in 'brackets' [ ] and are immediately followed by parenthesized source references.The end of the actual transcribed document is so identified.) Under ordinary circumstances Ayman Al Zawahri should have figured as yet another doctor in the infinite list of successful medics that characterizes his father's extended family. If an uncle, Mohammed Al Zawahri features among the country's top dermatologists, another is ex-dean of...

A founder of Al-Jihad and Al-Qaeda, Ayman Al-Zawahri grew up as a gentle boy in Maadi who said it was “inhumane to hurt another human being” IT’S HARD TO imagine Ayman Al-Zawahri as a poet a deeply moving poet, in fact. But he was, and may well still be. His colleagues in prison, including Aboud El-Zumor, whom Al-Zawahri succeeded as the leader of Al-Jihad’s military wing, used to learn his poems by heart. Poems that talk about human weakness, suffering and the need for companions who stand by you when life gets rough. Al-Zawahri first went to Afghanistan as a...

Al-Qa'eda 'mastermind' trapped By David Rennie in Washington (Filed: 19/03/2004) A battle was raging in the Pakistani tribal borderlands last night as hundreds of troops surrounded a "high-value al-Qa'eda target" protected by fanatical fighters. Pakistani officials said they believed they had cornered Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's right-hand-man and physician. Egyptian-born al-Zawahiri, 52, helped to mastermind the September 11 attacks and numerous other atrocities. Osama bin Laden pictured in August 2001 with al-Zawahiri Officials said he was being defended by more than 200 al-Qa'eda guerrillas in mud-walled fortified villages. American intelligence officials were hoping he would be taken alive. A...

<p>Pakistani officials said Thursday they have a "high-value target" in the war on terror surrounded near the Afghan border and sources reported that an air strike was being launched to flush out the resistance.</p> <p>Intelligence officials suggest it may be Ayman al-Zawahri (search) — the Al Qaeda No. 2 leader and the top deputy to Usama bin Laden (search) — but the person's identity remains uncertain.</p>

CAIRO, Egypt - An audiotape attributed to al-Qaida deputy Ayman al-Zawahri and broadcast on Al-Jazeera satellite television Sunday accused the United States of trying to abolish Islam. The tape appeared to be recent, as the speaker referred to a visit by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to India earlier this month and the Sept. 6 resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. The tape was poor quality, but the voice sounded like al-Zawahri's. There was no immediate way to confirm its authenticity. "The crusade camp that is led by America ... is targeting Islam and Muslims, even if it claims that...

The news that Norwegian interests in Muslim nations were now targets of al-Qaida terrorism stunned Norwegian authorities. Security at embassies was immediately stepped up as baffled experts and politicians tried to fathom why Norway had made the list. Confusion was rampant after Osama bin Laden's closest adviser Ayman al-Zawahri added Norway to the more predictable list of the USA, Great Britain and Australia - active partners in the alliance against Iraq - as targets for a new wave of terrorist attacks. The threat was being taken very seriously, but one of the first reactions was that Norway must have been...

A book purportedly signed by wanted Egyptian Islamic militant Ayman al-Zawahri, a top aide to Osama bin Laden, and calling for jihad (holy war), has appeared on the Internet, an Egyptian Islamist said on Tuesday. The book, "Allegiance and Disavowal", appears on the site Nidaa.com, which is very difficult to access, Hani al-Sibai, director of the London-based Maqrizi studies centre, told AFP by telephone. He said the site is run by a research centre close to the Taliban militia, Afghanistan's ousted rulers, and bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network. "It's the same style, the same language and the same methods as...

CAIRO (Reuters) - When Thomas from the United States wanted to know what the Muslim world had to say one year after the Sept. 11 attacks, he turned to IslamOnline.net. His request was courteous, unlike some angry questions sent in the past year to the Web site which offers online Islamic fatwas -- or religious edicts -- as well as news and advice to Muslims and others interested in the Islamic world. But regardless of the questioner's sympathies, IslamOnline aims to offer authoritative statements from scholars on Islam, reflecting differing views from various schools of thought. "Today we have broken...