What the new Zawahiri tape means

By Brian Fishman, September 15, 2010 Wednesday, September 15, 2010 - 12:03 PM Share

On September 15, al Qaeda's as-Sahab Media released a speech by Ayman al-Zawahiri to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the "start of the crusader campaign." Although the ninth anniversary of 9/11 clearly influenced as-Sahab's timing, al-Zawahiri's speech never mentioned the attacks on New York and Washington. For the moment at least, al Qaeda aims not to remind viewers of the destruction it caused nine years ago, but to remind potential supporters of the grievances it hopes will motivate them today.

If as-Sahab does not release material explicitly referencing 9/11, it would be an important departure for al Qaeda's media operations, which have in the past sought to remind viewers of the 9/11 attacks with dedicated propaganda around the anniversary. Previous examples include the release of 9/11 hijacker "wills," and statements from Osama bin Laden and American al Qaeda member Adam Gadahn. Last year as-Sahab released a statement from bin Laden addressed to the "American People" that specifically referenced the 9/11 attacks.

Instead of a victory lap or appeal to the West, al-Zawahiri's statement seems intended to frame al Qaeda's fight over the past nine years for supporters and would-be supporters not as a series of bold strikes but as a response to various "crusader" offenses during that period: invasion, religious and cultural insults, and, primarily, support for local regimes that al Qaeda considers unacceptable. The content of al-Zawahiri's speech is rote by al Qaeda standards and is notable primarily because the timing of its release suggests that other themes might have been chosen.

Al-Zawahiri singles out Pakistan in particular for criticism, which is not surprising considering al Qaeda's rhetorical focus on the south Asian state since the 2007 Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) incident that catalyzed anger among anti-Pakistani militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Pointing to a variety of standard failures by the Pakistani government, al-Zawahiri also mentions its poor response to the floods ravaging the country and accuses the Pakistani "ruling class" of preventing jihadis from waging war in Kashmir.

There is little doubt that 9/11 is still al Qaeda's most important calling card, but videos such as al-Zawahiri's suggest that, nine years on, al Qaeda believes its supporters expect more from the group than the memory of that Tuesday morning.

Brian Fishman is a counterterrorism research fellow at the New America Foundation.

-/AFP/Getty Images

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MARTY MARTEL

6:11 AM ET

September 16, 2010

Brian Fishman is reading 'tea leaves'

Brian Fishman is reading too much in ‘the absence of reference to 9/11 attacks’ in latest Zawahiri tape. Anyhow Zawahiri’s diatribe against Pakistan is NOT going to help US Afghan mission because current democratic government of Pakistan has continued Musharraf’s support and sanctuary to Afghan Taliban groups operating from Pakistani soil and killing US/NATO soldiers right under the US Army’s noses.

MARKJULIANSMITH

3:43 AM ET

September 19, 2010

The Muslim violence from its

The Muslim violence from its birth is a derivation of the nature of Arabic homoerotic which is the inevitable outcome of male centric society as observed by T. E. Laurence in his Seven Pillars Of Wisdom. Unable to express his homosexual tendencies explicitly the Muslim male expresses it outwardly through violently penetrating others. The violence of penetration is one of running amok through society rubbing shoulder to shoulder with fellow Muslim males able to finally vent frustrated homosexual feelings through irrational communal male violence against other.

The clear absence of women from the equation above is a red flag that the above is true.

The female bombers are rare and as we have seen in Iraq turned to such actions of violence by the denigrating them through rape and shame.

Authorization for such violence is underwritten by the Quranic texts vitriol of the inevitable grievous harm determined for other. See the Quran “THE COW” for a part of the Islamic text justification for violence against other.

My contention is the greater the equality of women and men within a Muslim community in the pursuit of enabling independence, both socially and economically, the greater the possibility peace and harmony will reign not only internally within a Muslim society but with Muslims interactions with other. This would really apply for any society.

It is therefore of absolute necessity it is recognized where Muslim communities exist secular laws are made counter to three Muslim negative societal mechanisms simultaneously. If this does not occur the pressure for the diminution of women’s rights, violence and terror will tend to increase in proportion to Muslims within any society.

Firstly, laws counter to any perceived religious edicts which tend to subject women to practices which are not equally encumbered by men and explicitly define women publically and privately as different. Laws which impose equality within the religious and societal structures. One of the most notable examples of this is the demand for women to wear the veil from the Hijab to Burqa. French laws are moving in the right direction but need to go further. Equal rights under law are another. Etc.

Secondly laws which specifically respond to the vitriol and justification of grevious harm contained in Muslim text. Laws should be framed which immediately impose heavy judical penalties for any stated intent of and/or actuall violence against other for whatever reason be it for parody or simple lack of interest in the Muslim faith. Particularly excuses such statements of promoted violence against other are only made under the illusion an Islamic Caliphate actually existed should be treated with the contempt such mealy-mouthed statements deserve.

Thirdly laws which protect the right of Muslim men and women men to express their homosexuality openly without societal censure both from within their secular and religious frameworks.

Clearly the laws above needs to apply generally rather than specifically to the Muslim religion for as we see each day it is not the only religion because of the way it addresses sexuality generates abhorrent anti-societal behavior.

Meanwhile to counter violence this issue should be openly discussed as a root cause of Muslim men’s violence or at least a possible major factor. Muslim men should be assured it is OK to have sexual feelings towards other men but this is no excuse for trying to resolve their homosexual feelings by committing increasingly violent acts against other.

I believe it will be found on studying this phenomena there will be a direct correlation between the degree of violence publically perpetrated by a Muslim man and his incapacity to deal with his homosexual feelings towards fellow males within his community and also the relative separation and inequality of women both in the Muslim secular and religious spheres within this same community.