Al Qaeda No. 2 Calls Obama Racial Epithet

CAIRO, Egypt — Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites. The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policies.

Ayman al-Zawahri said in the message, which appeared on militant Web sites, that Obama is "the direct opposite of honorable black Americans" like Malcolm X, the 1960s African-American rights leader.

In al-Qaida's first response to Obama's victory, al-Zawahri also called the president-elect _ along with secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice _ "house Negroes."

Speaking in Arabic, al-Zawahri uses the term "abeed al-beit," which literally translates as "house slaves." But al-Qaida supplied English subtitles of his speech that included the translation as "house Negroes."

The message also includes old footage of speeches by Malcolm X in which he explains the term, saying black slaves who worked in their white masters' house were more servile than those who worked in the fields. Malcolm X used the term to criticize black leaders he accused of not standing up to whites.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the latest message was just "more despicable comments from a terrorist."

The 11-minute 23-second video features the audio message by al-Zawahri, who appears only in a still image, along with other images, including one of Obama wearing a Jewish skullcap as he meets with Jewish leaders. In his speech, al-Zawahri refers to a Nov. 5 U.S. airstrike attack in Afghanistan, meaning the video was made after that date.

Al-Zawahri said Obama's election has not changed American policies he said are aimed at oppressing Muslims and others.

"America has put on a new face, but its heart full of hate, mind drowning in greed, and spirit which spreads evil, murder, repression and despotism continue to be the same as always," the deputy of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden said.

He said Obama's plan to shift troops to Afghanistan is doomed to failure, because Afghans will resist.

"Be aware that the dogs of Afghanistan have found the flesh of your soldiers to be delicious, so send thousands after thousands to them," he said.

Al-Zawahri did not threaten specific attacks, but warned Obama that he was "facing a Jihadi (holy war) awakening and renaissance which is shaking the pillars of the entire Islamic world; and this is the fact which you and your government and country refuse to recognize and pretend not to see."

He said Obama's victory showed Americans acknowledged that President George W. Bush's policies were a failure and that the result was an "admission of defeat in Iraq."

But Obama's professions of support for Israel during the election campaign "confirmed to the Ummah (Islamic world) that you have chosen a stance of hostility to Islam and Muslims," al-Zawahri said.

Comments

[veganphoto]

09:10 AM on 11/23/2008

funny he would make such a comment when so many muslims are black

maybe they're having trouble recruiting blacks, for obvious reasons

[clsmithj]

06:02 AM on 11/23/2008

house ne-gro, has very little effect when uttered by a non-Black,

[Bob H]

11:47 PM on 11/22/2008

I'm guessing that the Prophet Muhammed is spinning in his grave.

Extremists of all stripes are so full of themselves.

[Bob H]

11:33 PM on 11/22/2008

I'm guessing that the Prophet Muhammed is spinning in his grave.

Extremesits of all stripes are so full of themselves.

[MarkInEugene]

09:54 PM on 11/22/2008

The man spends his whole life enraged, scheming, destroying, organizing militants, fomenting hatred, spewing his fundamentalist intollerance, hiding in caves, concocting weapons, making his demagogue videos and for what? Even if he could kill his great satin, he'd find another. Some men just live for hate.

al-Zawahri's choice to be a destructive fanatic in life was easy compared to making the effort to be a benevolent, democratic leader in a society based on freedom, liberty and justice. It's easy to bomb, oppress, hate, spew religious rhetoric, be a terrorist and complain in life. What's really hard is to get educated, get conscious, be tolerant, be productive, be supportive and add something of value to this world before you leave it.

His only claim to fame is a claim to violence. I have no respect or sympathy for such laziness! Hopefully he will soon be behind bars where all men of his kind belong.

[paulita]

09:12 PM on 11/22/2008

I hope Malcom X is going to come and haunt that man and hopefully that will be the end of that!

[returnofthejedi]

08:50 PM on 11/22/2008

I thought Barack Husein Obama was a terrorist best friend!!???

This is hind sight, but it shows just how low that lie really was.

[Thetan]

05:51 PM on 11/22/2008

If Al Qaeda was not just an excuse to sell weapons, they would have assassinated the industrialists who pull the strings of U.S. policy not just innocent civilians.

[kylennblack]

05:10 PM on 11/22/2008

Hmmm...based on his epithets, al-Zawahri would fit right in as one of Palin's "real Americans."

Muslim extremists and Christian extremists differ only in the small details.

[BillN]

11:42 AM on 11/22/2008

This guy is no more Al Zawahiri than I'm Abraham Lincoln. He's too well-dressed and well-fed to be living in a cave in Pakistan. And by some coincidence, there is a professional recording studio just down the road.

Does anyone remember the fake Bin Laden video with the actor wearing a wristwatch and a ring?

Funny, after all this time, no mention of Condi Rice or Colin Powell.

Give me a break. This is pure propaganda and it's not coming from Al Qaeda.

[Fernando]

06:31 PM on 11/22/2008

Hardly, what this tells me is that Al Qaeda is safer now and moving around with impunity. What Zawahiri is afraid of is that Obama won't be a polarizing figure in the Islamic world as Bush was which would be, well, bad for his business. The worse thing that could happen to their fundraising and recruiting is for a US president to be seen favorably in Islamic countries. It's no accident Al Qaeda endorsed McCain!

[BrookLynn]

11:34 PM on 11/22/2008

Condi Rice and Colin Powell are mentioned in the 3rd paragraph...

[Paganus]

09:07 AM on 11/22/2008

Granted that this comment from Zawahiri is exactly what we have come to expect from these religious fanatics and their tired ideology, some of the comments re slavery in Africa beginning with the Arabs clearly reflect anti-Muslim bigotry.

Two words for all you Islam-haters out there:

1) Egypt of the Pharaohs

2) Roman Empire

Granted that ancient empires were generally equal opportunity slavers, both of these powers supported slaving expeditions into the African interior.

[TheBride]

03:03 AM on 11/22/2008

Re: V Samuels
"There is a sort of simplistic blanklet covering most Americans, most of whom refuse to even discuss their own sorid history with black Americans, and the mechanism institutionalize in our system which would make those from the Middle East believe that blacks do the bidding of whites."

The irony here is thick with your OWN blanket statement. Have you ever even been to the Middle East? Hello, the slave trade started with the Arabs...If those from the Middle East believe that (which I doubt based on my own experiences) then they are racist. . Not all brown people are your friend. . Al-Zawawhri just insulted all Blacks and you're so caught up in one way obsession with whites that you explain it away lest it would hurt your flimsy logic racism. Comedy.


"The true weakness of America isn't its external foes, but its delusions and fantasies which replace the gritty, uncomfortable reality of how it has treated most of its non-white citizens. America is failing because she refuses to be introspective and honest, rather preferring to create with her enormous power and money a pristine image more satisfying to her ignorant occupants."

Yeah, we're ignorant and you're so smart. If America is failing then pray tell what is happening in the so-much-less-ignorant-according-to-you Middle East? Please go sit down somewhere and come back to us with facts, not an inferiority complex.
- A Black Person with Sense.

[Rictracee]

01:43 AM on 11/22/2008

ATTENTENTION .... DO YOU GUYS REALLY THINK AN ISLAMIC EXTREMIST WOULD KNOW A SLAVE SLAG TERMINOLGY USED IN THE SLAVE DAYS??? I REALLY THINK THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THIS AL QUEDA.. WHY DOES THE TAPES SOMEHOW APPEAR.. NOTICE THEY REFERED TO EVERYONE THATS BLACK IN HIGH POWER POSITIONS WHO HAVE ALL PUBLICALLY SAID THEY ARE PROUD OF BARACK OBAMA

[Fernando]

06:37 PM on 11/22/2008

You do know that :
A) They have internet.
B) They have cable.
C) Many Islamist extremists have studied in the US and Europe.
D) They do research.

It's really not that difficult.

[Nostraboris]

12:53 AM on 11/22/2008

Even the angriest fanatic in the Arab street must be scratching his head after this rambling nonsense.

[Martha601]

12:28 AM on 11/22/2008

This is a desperate attempt to turn attention onto them. Do you think they have not enjoyed this attention that America has given them? Of course they have, especially with a war that should have been aimed at them and wasn't. Obama saying the truth in that we should have ALWAYS been focused on THEM would definitely cause some hostility and a moment for them to promote fear where we have hope. They base their hate on us on the fact way that we ensure hate within ourselves-in our country. We took some credence away from them when we voted for Obama. That pisses them off. The world LOVES what we done and yet again, less attention from them. Hate drives them but we showed them that it doesn't drive the majority of Americans. Now, wouldn't you be jealous of that if you were them?

[Martha601]

12:31 AM on 11/22/2008

One more thing, we are a nation to be envied again because we proved that you can be anything you desire and work hard for in THIS nation.