Al-Zawahri Gets Support From Al Qaeda In Iraq

BAGHDAD — Al-Qaida's front group in Iraq reaffirmed its support Monday for the terror network's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, a week after U.S. commandos killed Osama bin Laden.

Al-Qaida has not yet announced a successor and there is some uncertainty about whether al-Zawahri will indeed take over for bin Laden.

In a statement posted on an insurgent website Monday, the Islamic State of Iraq also taunted President Barack Obama as "the rat in the black house" and said he should remain fearful of bin Laden's promise to threaten the United States.

"The martyrdom of the sheik (bin Laden) will increase the determination and steadfastness among his brotherly mujahideen," read the statement. "To our brothers in al-Qaida, first among them sheik Ayman al-Zawahri and his brothers in the leadership of the organization, may God reward you and grant you patience for this loss."

The statement amounts to an official letter of condolence for bin Laden, who was killed in a U.S. strike last week on his compound in northern Pakistan. It was signed by Abu Bakr al-Husseini al-Baghdadi, a pseudonym for the anonymous new leader of al-Qaida's front group in Iraq.

The Egyptian-born al-Zawahri was long bin Laden's deputy, but has clashed in the past with al-Qaida's front group in Iraq. Both bin Laden and al-Zawahri urged followers to focus attacks against U.S. and Israeli interests, and sharply condemned the network's Iraqi wing for targeting Shiite Muslims during the years that Iraq teetered on the brink of civil war.

Al-Qaida is generally comprised of Sunni Muslims.

The new statement did not call for specific attacks on the U.S. but said Obama should be mindful of bin Laden's 19 operatives who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

"And now the same fear and terror after his death will hurt you as his legacy, and will be a hard burden on you, spoiling your lives and threatening your security and consuming your economy," the statement said. "It is the right of Osama bin Laden's men to fulfill his oath."

Al-Zawahri has been critical of Obama, even releasing a message that referred to Obama as a "house Negro," a slur for a black subservient to whites.

Al-Qaida in Iraq has by and large confined its attacks to its home country. In a second statement Monday, it claimed responsibility for a suicide bomber who last week killed 20 police officers in the Iraqi town of Hillah by ramming the explosives-packed vehicle he was driving into a barricaded security compound.

It was the second major deadly blast in Iraq of the week, and suggests that al-Qaida-linked groups in Iraq remain a threat despite the death of bin Laden, their ideological patron. Violence has dropped nationwide since 2008, but militants are still capable of carrying out bombings and launching attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces.

Also Monday, a roadside bomb near a police patrol in central Baghdad killed two passers-by. Counterterror experts believe roadside bombs in Iraq generally are a hallmark of al-Qaida and other Sunni insurgents.

Comments

[Bystander]

06:33 PM on 05/10/2011

Seal Team 6 is requesting Zawahri to draw two concentric circles around that bullseye on his forhead to give them a better aiming point.

[vexactious]

06:02 PM on 05/10/2011

Is that a bullseye on his forehead?

[Michael Little]

03:24 PM on 05/10/2011

Though the support of Al-Zawahiri is not a surprise for AQI, the main player in Iraq id Al-Sadr and a more serious threat. He has a large following, a well armed and trained militia and no afraid to use either. He has support in the Iraqi government and his faction actually has seats in parliament. His close association Iran and acceptance in other ME countries makes him a political and military force to keep a wary eye on. Al-Zawahiri has no where near the support he does and may need to be moved to a back burner so to speak.

[BoudiccaBlanc]

02:16 PM on 05/10/2011

Al-Zawhiri...You're next!

[Eagle513]

01:38 PM on 05/10/2011

It amazes me how al-qaida hides behind the skirt of Muslim fate while they potrays these fools "their leaders", as their god. They come into this country, and destroy innocent lives and believe that they can get away with it? Yes, going into your country to take out the lead hand that gave the order is common sense. If it was a white, purple, or blue president that took bin laden out, it wouldnt make a difference.

[missy29]

01:27 PM on 05/10/2011

President Barack Obama as "the rat in the black house"

I may not agree with Obamas politics etc. but i do take offense to threats against him. I may sit here & hammer on my political brothers & sister of this country all day, but you let someone else mess with them & see how fast we band together! They better take their threats & get outta our sandbox!

[gregorywilliam]

11:32 AM on 05/10/2011

Should we expect anything different? This man has been at his side for a long time. Their policies will not change. They are not a unit but a collective with one uniform goal but various methods and means to achieve this goal.

www.3juno.net

[PoliticsHater]

11:23 AM on 05/10/2011

I didn't know that Muslims celebrated "Ash Wednesday."

[hdesfca]

05:07 PM on 05/10/2011

It's a target.

[booker52]

11:03 AM on 05/10/2011

So thoughtful of him to provide a ready made target on this forehead. This is another who needs to be taken out. Shouldn't be too long before that happens.

[Bufford P Tusser]

11:37 AM on 05/10/2011

"So thoughtful of him to provide a ready made target on his forehead"

Thats funny!
F&F

This time however we should hand A al-Z a gun before we send him to his maker so as to stuff a pre- emptive sock in the " Obama shot an unarmed man nonsence"

It just amazes me the tough on terr@r crowd wants to read these vermin their Maranda rights now.

[chancho24]

10:18 AM on 05/10/2011

Getting Al Zawahiri as expeditiously as possible should be the US goal.
Hopefully it wont take a decade.

[Bufford P Tusser]

11:40 AM on 05/10/2011

"Hopefully it wont take a decade"
At least we don't have to waste the first 8 years.

[joeyfoto]

09:52 AM on 05/10/2011

Good Run this vicious dolt's flat up the pole we'll see who salutes.

My guess is that it won't take 10 more years to locate and eliminate al-Zawahir, unless he's in Syria or Iran.

If he is, they should be notified that they shield him at their peril..,

[luxou812]

08:38 AM on 05/10/2011

More and more people I'm reading here now know about our lying government, yet nothing changes. The Regan-Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama administration just keeps doubling-down while shallow idiots cheer-on the infliction of death, terror and destruction on innocent people. Kind of like the Johnson-Nixon administration.

Dwight Eisenhower where have you gone? I wish JFK, RFK and MLK would have played behind bullet-proof glass. Things would have turned-out a lot different.

God help us. We are broke and disliked.

[GonzoBrawler]

08:27 AM on 05/10/2011

Thats okay... they can make Al-Zawahri their leader now that we have taken out Bin Laden, and we'll hunt him down, and take him out just the same way... and if they try to replace Al-Zawahri with someone else, we'll do the same exact thing, and so on, and so on..... They just dont seem to learn their lesson. They can run, but they cant hide... Atleast not from an intelligent, and competent president, that actually has a brain, and knows what he is doing.

[T-Faz]

07:54 AM on 05/10/2011

"the rat in the black house"

Boo yah.

[JM80NY]

07:19 AM on 05/10/2011

These guys are not the existential bogeyman that they've been made out to me by the prior administration and other cold war vets. I highly recommend checking out Frontline's "Behind Taliban Lines" (Netflix or pbs.org) from last year, then watch "Fighting for Bin Laden" which Frontline aired last week and is currently streaming online. Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi manages to embed himself with Islamic militants as they make bumbling attempts at attacking coalition forces. The footage is unreal! I never gave the Taliban or Al Qaeda much credit for strategic brilliance, but these guys are cave man dumb. The worst thing is that we've struggled with them for so long.

[GonzoBrawler]

08:35 AM on 05/10/2011

I completly agree that they are not that organized, or intelligent... Thats why we never should have gone to war in the first place... and instead, just send in special forces teams, like the one that took out OBL, and take them out individually. Its alot more efficient, billions cheaper, and just think of all of the innocent lives, and the lives of our servicemen, & women that would have been saved.

[Bufford P Tusser]

11:47 AM on 05/10/2011

Agreed, these guys aren't Super Villains, if dubyas hadn't humped the puppy on pre 9/11 intel, we'd hardly know ya.

[janharms]

09:09 AM on 05/10/2011

Who do you mean by "they"? One group, the Taliba, is a guerilla army and the other is a terrorist group. Both are not supposed to be soldiers or fight against soldiers, exept when THEY can set the rules for such an encounter. They both lack the military training and equipment to stand their ground against a real army. As a soldier for the german army I was trained for one year (Basic + Advanced infantry training). No guerilla army has the resources needed for such an extensiv training. Usually terrorists get even less military training than a guerilla - indoctrination is more improtant to their style of operation.

[JM80NY]

04:09 PM on 05/10/2011

Behind Taliban Lines follows a Afghan militia group that is part of Hezbi Islami, who allies with the Taliban and other insurgent groups. Fighting for Bin Laden follows a group of foreign fighters who claim to be affiliated with Al Queda, These documentaries are more interesting because it allows you to observe these guys first hand, rather than let your imagination make up stories about these guys one way or the other. The training of western forces and traditional army can't even be remotely compared to that of even the most elite Taliban fighter, however these guys are suffering from a lack of a common sense, more than a lack of a training.