News & Politics - Al Quaeda's Deputy Calls Barack Obama "House Negro"

UnsilentMajorty · 11-19-2008, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Al-Qaeda today invoked the speeches of Malcolm X in a propaganda exercise designed to divide African-Americans, accusing Barack Obama of being a "house negro".

In his first video message to Mr Obama since the Illinois senator was elected on November 4, Ayman Zawahiri attempted to vilify the president-elect in comparison with the black power radical, whom he described as an "honourable" African-American.

His message, entitled The departure of Bush and arrival of Obama, appeared to have been carefully choreographed. It was staged in front of pictures of Mr Obama praying at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem during a pre-election visit to Israel, and Malcolm X, who was murdered in 1965.

As Osama bin Laden's deputy spoke, old footage of the black power leader's speeches was played in the background. In one of the speeches, Malcolm X used the term "house negroes" in reference to domestic slaves who were considered more docile towards their masters than the field slaves.

“It is true about you and people like you . . . what Malcolm X said about the house negroes,” he said, naming Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State, and his successor, Condoleezza Rice.

“You represent the opposite to honourable Black Americans like . . . Malcolm X."

He scolded Mr Obama for “choosing to be an enemy of Islam and Muslims”, saying that the Muslim “nation had bitterly received” the US President-elect's pledge of support for Israeli security and the peace process with the Palestinians.

“You have chosen to stand in the ranks of the enemies of Muslims and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim that your mother is Christian,” Mr Zawahiri added.

Also in his video, he threatened to work towards Mr Obama's removal if he went ahead with his proposals to withdraw troops from Iraq in order to concentrate on Afghanistan, urging him to remember "the fate" of President Bush, President Musharraf of Pakistan and Afganistan's former Soviet occupiers.

The recording came after an interview, broadcast on Sunday, in which Mr Obama said that he would push ahead with his campaign promise to begin pulling troops out of Iraq and switch the military focus to Afghanistan.

“What you have announced before . . . that you will withdraw [US] troops from Iraq [and send them] to Afghanistan is a policy that is doomed to failure,” Mr Zawahiri said in the message, made available by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"If you still want to be stubborn about America’s failure in Afghanistan, then remember the fate of Bush and Pervez Musharraf, and the fate of the Soviets and British before them,” he added.

Mr Obama refused to comment, declining to get into a "tit for tat with a terrorist group", according to CNN.

The tape was not unexpected. Intelligence officials and Mr Obama's campaign team have been bracing themselves for terrorist groups to take advantage of the presidential transition period.

Both President Bush and Mr Obama have acknowledged that extremists could stage attacks to destabilise the period, which ends when Mr Obama is inaugurated on January 20.

This is to be expected just like the article states.

Al Quaeda is a radical, quasi-religious network of extremists who will do anything to justify their war against the West, and Israel. The problem, now, as evidenced by this obvious attempt at division is the U.S. will no longer be hypocritical in our dealings with Muslims and Middle-Eastern world once Obama takes office next year. They know their days are numbered and they are scared. They should be. We now have the support of most of the world again and Obama has said one of his top foreign policies is going to be capturing, or killing Osama Bin Laden and all those who stand with him.

Let's not forget this is the same group who killed 3,000 Americans, and other citizens of the free world on September 11, 2001. They bombed London, on July 7, and have claimed responsibility for countless other attacks around the world like in the Philippines. These are the same thugs who both torture and then behead their captives on video... But now, they are the ones who are running scared. It's finally their time to be afraid...

Bella Grint · 11-19-2008, 07:16 PM

So don't a lot of the GOP party think Obama is a terrorist though? And don't the terrorists hate him as well?

I think we are all missing the fact the terrorists know they should be scared.

vc318 · 11-19-2008, 08:08 PM

^ I agree. Do all those McCain supporters still think Obama is a terrorist after the release of this? I guess it's time for them to find something new...

Bronson · 11-19-2008, 09:44 PM

My thoughts exactly!

Bella Grint · 11-19-2008, 10:05 PM

I am sure they will still believe it. What won't be seen as much is how much Al Queda still wants to hurt the country, no matter who is president. The negative aspect is they really hate Obama for being a "traitor" but the positive aspect is that Obama wants to take them down. If they are all friends..that is some weird friendship eh?

UnsilentMajorty · 11-20-2008, 12:41 PM

These guys (Al Queada) really aren't that smart. Most of the world already knows this, but this new piece of "propaganda" against Obama proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

First, calling him a "House Negro" implies he is somehow a token Black person when him becoming President is the exact opposite. He won/earned that position when a majority of Americans ELECTED him. And it wasn't just the Black community. Obama crossed racial, religious and gender lines in his historic election. This is the main flaw in Zawahiri's underlying thesis.

Second, his underlying false assumption reveals just how scared AQ is because what Zawahiri is trying to do is rally moderate Muslims who are still on the fence about Al Queada's Jihad against the West and Israel... Because Obama is hugely popular in places around the world where there are large Muslim populations (like Africa, and other places). This is what they are most afraid of now: They can no longer win the hearts and minds of Muslims now that Obama seems to have already "won" them. This is what terrorists fear the most. They will be exposed for the hypocrites and manipulators they are and that their extreme means do not justify their questionable ends.

**Cristofle** · 11-20-2008, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Second, his underlying false assumption reveals just how scared AQ is because what Zawahiri is trying to do is rally moderate Muslims who are still on the fence about Al Queada's Jihad against the West and Israel

They aren't "on the fence." They're terrified of them. Statistically, the VAST majority of Muslims list terrorism as one of their primary world concerns and believe it is up to them to stop so-called "Islamic" terrorists (I use quotes because they're completely corrupting Islam- there's nothing of real Islam in terrorism. They're even misusing the term Jihad. It doesn't mean holy war). This is as small a percentage of people who call themselves Muslims as abortion clinic bombers who call themselves Christians. It's less than 1%.

**sunnykerr** · 11-20-2008, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cristofle (View Post)

This is as small a percentage of people who call themselves Muslims as abortion clinic bombers who call themselves Christians. It's less than 1%.

Oh what an excellent point you make there.

The last eight years have been all about making America's enemy clearly identifiable and labelled.

Hopefully, over the next eight years (yeah, I'm saying it already!), we'll see that turned on its head so that people who think otherwise today will come to realize that Islam is not the enemy, that Christianity isn't the cure-all, and that terrorism isn't a national sport. By which I mean that the enemy is al-Qaeda, not Afghanistan (though, by all means, quash the Taliban, please), not Pakistan, not Iraq, not Iran, not Palestine. And to attack these countries because they're "harbouring" terrorism is tantamount to condemning their innocent citizens to die because of their very powerlessness. It's furthermore completely ludicrous in light of our global ongoing ignorance of the very real government-sponsored terrorists in Sudan.

**Cristofle** · 11-21-2008, 07:44 AM

I am extremely, extremely upset at the government approved and even government sponsored Islamic fear-mongering. They'll list one teeny thing, in fine pint, that this is not about "moderate Muslims" and not a single thing they say afterwards holds that up. Everything they say, everything they indicate, drives home that Islam is the enemy. Look at how many people thought Obama was a Muslim- and look at what a NEGATIVE thing that was seen as. And the media is really the other worst culprit of this- did we know that virtually EVERY Muslim majority country issued a statement condemning 9/11? That despite the relatively small rally of Pakistanis who celebrated it, there was a MUCH larger group who held a candlelight vigil and cried for it? That over 200 American Muslim leaders representing more than SEVEN MILLION American Muslims issued separate statements condemning the attacks? I bet most of us didn't know that, because the press didn't focus on that. And then there's this absolutely ridiculous piece of trash, the "Obsession" movie, 28 million free copies were issued- ironically enough- in political swing states over the election. If any of y'all have seen this, do NOT take it seriously. The scholars within it are false scholars, and they're twisting facts. We did a lot of research on this movie in my Islam in the Media class. It's garbage.

Al-Qaeda is NOT Islam. bin Laden, when you actually hear what he says about Islam, doesn't actually seem to view it as a religion. He'll toss out the "jihad" and "martyr" crap, distorting their meanings ("jihad" means struggle in actuality, and the "greater jihad" is the struggle within one's self to be holy for God in Muslim thinking) in order to get his followers to do what he wants them to do, but he seems to view it as more of a political group. And he has done as much damage to true Muslims as he has to anyone else. They are terrified of him, of what more damage he could do. They aren't "on the fence", like they could swing either way. There are people in the Middle East who really don't like the US. And let's face it, given our OUTRAGEOUSLY illegal war in Iraq and Bush spouting off about how this is a crusade when Muslims view that term as 200 years of invasion and oppression, this is not entirely surprising or unjustified. But that doesn't mean moderate Muslims are thisclose to joining ranks with bin Laden. That is a VERY dangerous line of thought.

UnsilentMajorty · 11-21-2008, 07:56 AM

Quote:

But that doesn't mean moderate Muslims are this close to joining ranks with bin Laden. That is a VERY dangerous line of thought.

It is a line of thought Al Queada is desperately trying to rally waning support against Obama with. This is why it is called PROPAGANDA.

They know they are losing ground each and every day Obama is "elected". Why do you think this video was released now, instead of before the election, or even after Janurary 20th? Because we are in a very vulnerable position right now with our transition of power. They know once Obama is officially in office everything is going to change. They also don't know how he is going to react vs. Bush who is very predictable and plays right into their hands. This is what they are afraid of most: That Obama is NOT like Bush, he is unpredictable and that we are going to start taking the bulk of the fight to them in Afghanistan, and possibly Pakistan if needed.

**Cristofle** · 11-21-2008, 08:22 AM

Oh, I agree that they likely are far more frightened of Obama than Bush. The idea that the terrorists thought Obama was their guy is ridiculous. Obama has always, always been focused on Al-Qaeda as the enemy as opposed to wanting to start wars in unrelated Iraq or Iran. But I have to protest the "on the fence" term. They may want to believe that's true, or sell that that's true- it could not possibly be further from the truth. Muslims, TRUE Muslims, are as much victims of Osama bin Laden as anyone else, because the Bush administration has taken those actions and twisted them to paint all of Islam as the enemy.

ceilirose · 11-21-2008, 10:18 AM

I'm not so sure that terrorists thought that Obama was their guy. It was more his political opponents and that argument did indeed work against Kerry in '04. Remember Bush was strong on national security and Kerry was weak?

It was a very bizarre statement and I don't think that al Quaeda even understands America like they think they do. Malcom X's daughter was on CNN last night and was pretty contemptuous of this statement.

Bella Grint · 11-21-2008, 12:14 PM

I think the terrorists have ruined it all by being religious extremists. Then our media and anti Obama supporters didn't help saying Obama was a terrorist because of the Muslim background..so all the sides in this have contradicted the religion for someone in some way it's sickening.

Ruby_Slippers · 11-21-2008, 01:43 PM

They obviously don't understand the meaning of the term and the election of Barack scares them because they can no longer use the typical old white male symbol of the US.

Bella Grint · 11-21-2008, 03:24 PM

And this time they feel exceptionally angry at Obama because he is a traitor to them..


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