Al Qaeda’s latest video has a message for Great Britain and the United States: we’re coming to get ya:
Al Qaeda deputy leader Aymen al-Zawahiri marked the four-week anniversary of the deadly blasts in London’s transit system by threatening more attacks on London and against the United States.
Al-Zawahiri, in a tape shown on the Al-Jazeera satellite channel, warned that terrorists would strike again unless England and the United States withdraw troops from Iraq. The Al Qaeda leader, second in the organization behind Usama bin Laden, said British Prime Minister Tony Blair is to blame for the attacks in London.
The tape was being examined to determine its authenticity, but according to officials there has never been an al-Zawahiri tape that was not real. The tape appears to have been made recently given the references to last month’s London transit bombings.
Clearly, as you can see by the message, it’s all a pretext: Al Qaeda attacked the United States before there was a war in Iraq. If you read materials on the group, it’s goal is to increase its clout and power by shoving up a big body count. The war in Iraq is not it’s main goal.
As the BBC explains, Al-Zawahiri, in logic that can at best be charitably described as twisted, gives a new meaning to the phrase “refusing to accept responsibility” by blaming Tony Blair for the bombings:
Osama Bin Laden’s lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri has warned London will face more attacks because of Tony Blair’s foreign policy decisions.
His comments were made in a videotape which was broadcast on Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera.
The al-Qaeda deputy said: “Blair has brought you destruction to the heart of London, and he will bring more destruction, God willing.”
British authorities have to take this seriously. For several reasons: (a)the number of attacks in London, (b)terrorists’ often stated goal of making England and London in particular a target, (c)the controversy over the death of an innocent man suspected of being a bomber killed by police could provide terrorists with an opening to try to create a climate with more mistaken identity deaths which would heighten tensions.
Plus there is an unanswerable question: are they targeting Great Britain right now because its part of a plan or because they can’t conduct another major operation in the U.S. or because they’re planning a major operation in the U.S.?
No matter what, security has been boosted, as CBS/AP notes:
As thousands of police officers patrolled London’s streets and sprawling subway system Thursday, a deputy Al Qaeda leader threatened more destruction in London, saying in a videotape broadcast Thursday that British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be to blame…
Officials stressed there was no specific intelligence of a third attack, but undercover police were mingling with passengers, and officers were armed with machine guns and pistols. Police helicopters hovered above while traffic was heavier than normal.
Also note this part of the terrorist’s statement:
Referring to U.S. President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, al-Zawahri told Americans: “The truth that has been kept from you by Bush, Rice and Rumsfeld is that there is no way out of Iraq without immediate withdrawal, and any delay on this means only more dead, more losses. If you don’t leave today, certainly you will leave tomorrow, and after tens of thousands of dead, and double that figure in disabled and wounded.”
Referring to the Western nations who have contributed troops to the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq, al-Zawahri said: “As to the nations of the crusader alliance, we have offered you a truce if you leave the land of Islam.
“Hasn’t Sheik Osama bin Laden told you that you will not dream of security before there is security in Palestine and before all the infidel armies withdraw from the land of Muhammed,” al-Zawahri, added referring to the leader of the al Qaeda network, bin Laden.
So the reports about the demand being withdrawal from Iraq are not accurate.
There is a much larger design. And probably one even bigger than the one described above.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.