Page 2 of 2 Al-Qaeda message aimed
at US living
rooms By Michael Scheuer
Muslims, focusing primarily on
blacks, who form the single most numerous group in
the US Muslim community.
For the first
time, Zawahiri identified al-Hajj Malik al-Shabazz
- Malcolm X - as a fellow Islamic "struggler and
martyr". Quoting words he attributed to Shabazz,
Zawahiri said Shabazz's ideas recognized what many
"seasoned" Islamist groups and leaders in
the
Muslim world have missed, namely:
If you are not ready to die for it,
take the word freedom out of your vocabulary ...
I believe in a religion that believes in
freedom. Any time I have to accept a religion
that won't let me fight a battle for my people,
I say to hell with that religion ... Concerning
non-violence, it is criminal to teach a man not
to defend himself when he is the constant victim
of brutal attacks ... We are non-violent with
people who are non-violent with us, but we are
not non-violent with anyone who is violent with
us ... Any time you beg another man to set you
free, you will never be free. Freedom is
something you have to do for yourself. The price
of freedom is death. [3]
Zawahiri
told American Muslims that Malcolm X drew these
"powerful concepts" from Islam, and that they are
as applicable today to the oppressed condition of
black American Muslims as they were in his
lifetime (1925-65). Al-Qaeda's deputy said to
black American Muslims, "I hope no one replies to
me that blacks in America have been delivered from
its tyranny because there are the likes of [former
secretary of state] Colin Powell - the liar of the
Security Council - and Condoleezza Rice in power."
Using what he claimed was Shabazz's analysis,
Zawahiri identified Powell and Rice as "house
slaves", blacks who prospered because they were
obedient and helpful to their masters.
Zawahiri then said that the current
condition of most black American Muslims is much
closer to that of what Shabazz described as "field
slaves", blacks who "lived in huts, have nothing
to lose ... they felt the sting of the lash". This
inferior status, Zawahiri claimed, was best
exemplified by the black American Muslims who
today are serving in the US military:
I am hurt when I find a black
American fighting the Muslims under the American
flag. Why is he fighting us when the racist
Crusader regime in America is persecuting him
like it persecutes us, and oppressing him like
it oppresses us? And perhaps his slave ancestors
whom America kidnapped from Africa were Muslims
like us. The racist American Crusader regime is
using him and the other weak and oppressed to
die so that the criminals in the White House can
amass their fortunes and add to their millions,
whereas he receives scraps after his blood is
spilled or he comes out of the war a
cripple.
And I tell the soldier of color
in the American army that the racist Crusader
regime kidnapped your ancestors to exploit them
in developing their resources, and today it is
using you for the same purpose, after they
altered the look of the shackles and changed the
type of chains and try to make you believe that
you are fighting for democracy and the American
dream ... And after you achieve for them what
they want, they will throw you out into the
street like an old shoe.
To stress
his last point - and add fuel to the fire raging
in US politics over health care for combat
veterans - Zawahiri related a story he "heard on
the BBC in English this past March 17 about
thousands of discharged wounded soldiers who are
now homeless". One such soldier, a 14-year
veteran, Zawahiri claimed, served two years in
Iraq, was wounded and discharged, and was later
evicted from his house and now lives on a monthly
pension of US$400 and "sleeps in his grandmother's
car on the street".
Zawahiri's May 5
interview is, to date, al-Qaeda's most
sophisticated and nuanced attempt to bedevil US
domestic politics, and it highlights the
long-standing fascination that al-Qaeda and many
other Islamist groups have had with the position
of black Americans in US society, and the access
they could potentially provide thereto.
Zawahiri's focus on US domestic politics
and race relations also may be benefiting from the
input of a US citizen named Adam Yahiye Gadahn -
aka Azzam al-Amriki - who is a senior member of
al-Qaeda's media committee. Indeed, the deftness
and political timeliness of Zawahiri's May 5
statements suggests that al-Qaeda may have more
than a single American advising it about the
complexities of US politics and on how to try to
add a measure of agitation to the US domestic
political environment.
Notes 1. These statistics accompany the text of the
interview in "Interview with Sheikh Ayman
al-Zawahiri", IntelCenter, al-Qaeda Videos, No 74,
May 5. All quotations from Zawahiri in this
article are from this document. Also, Zawahiri's
answers contained three subtle threats of attacks
inside the United States. In referring to the
"Crusaders", he promised attacks in "our countries
and theirs"; in discussing Khalid Sheikh Muhammad
and the September 11 attack, he said Sheikh
Muhammad "has become a role model for hundreds who
are following in his footsteps, and they shall
achieve more than he achieved, with Allah's
permission and help"; and in citing the importance
to Islam of the US-imprisoned Egyptian cleric
Sheikh Umar Abd al-Rahman, Zawahiri added, "for
whose torture the Americans shall pay dearly, with
Allah's permission and help". 2. Of the
efforts al-Qaeda has made to portray itself as a
force for liberating the world's oppressed, the
heretofore most notable is Zawahiri, "The Freeing
of Humanity and Homelands Under the Banner of the
Koran", February 2005, accessible at
www.jihadunspun.com. 3. All words attributed
to Malcolm X/Shabazz in this article are as they
were stated by Zawahiri in his interview.
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