A Qaeda’s No. 2 Threatens More Attacks
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James Joyner | Thursday, August 4, 2005 |
Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s deputy, threatened massive attacks in London and against U.S. troops in Iraq if we don’t change our wicked ways.
al-Qaida’s No. 2 Threatens London, U.S. (AP)
Al-Qaida’s No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, threatened more destruction in London, saying in a videotape broadcast Thursday that British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be to blame. Al-Zawahri also threatened the United States with tens of thousands of military dead if it does not withdraw its troops from Iraq immediately.
In Crawford, Texas, President Bush dismissed the threat, saying, “We will stay on the offense against these people. They’re terrorists and they’re killers and they will kill innocent people … so they can impose their dark vision on the world.”
The tape, aired on the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera, was delivered exactly one month after the July 7 bombings in London that killed 56 people, including four suicide attackers. In the excerpts aired by Al-Jazeera, al-Zawahri did not directly claim that al-Qaida carried out the July 7 or July 21 attacks. But he brought the July 7 attacks under al-Qaida’s wing and depicted the terror network as still capable of delivering strikes around the world despite arrests in Europe and blows against its leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He presented the attacks as a result of Blair’s decision to deploy troops in Iraq. “Blair has brought to you destruction in central London, and he will bring more of that, God willing,” al-Zawahri said in the broadcast excerpts.
It’s unclear how the 4th of August is exactly one month after the 7th of July, but then I’ve always found the International Date Line a bit confusing.
Regardless, it’s not as if al Qaeda was refraining from attacks before the Iraq War. Claims that they are going to step up attacks if we do not change our policy are therefore absurd. Indeed, one presumes that they would take great confidence from achieving their policy objectives with violence and become emboldened to attack more in hopes of being further rewarded.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Personally, I'm curious as to how they are going to get the "tens of thousands" of military dead. Even if you count all the dead so far, they're only at 1,800.
I would bet they meant exactly 4 weeks after...
Gee, whatever happend to "Bin Laden dead or alive"?
Gee, whatever happend to âBin Laden dead or aliveâ?
Our troops in Afghanistan are doing their very best to find him, I assure you. They don't need constant reminders that they haven't yet succeeded in that endeavor.
While Bin Laden is still at large he has been marginalized. Before Afghanistan he was training 10,000 terrorists in open camps. Now he is living in stink holes, moving daily or weekly and always in fear of some of his buddies turning him in for $25 million.
I guess the sabotaging left has to complain about something. How about our great economy or those wonderful deals we get at Walmart. LOL
How can you hate this guy? He looks like the Gorten Fisherman....with a turban
Our troops in Afghanistan are doing their very best to find him, I assure you.
Since he's in Pakistan by most accounts, I doubt their best will be quite good enough.
Since heâs in Pakistan by most accounts, I doubt their best will be quite good enough.
And you honestly think we have no troops in Pakistan, eh?
Not only do we have support bases there, but you know damn well we also have "other" forces in Pakistan.
As an OEF veteran, I just get tired of the constant criticism of our troops, thinly veiled as criticism of the President. I take it personally. And it gets old.
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