WORLDXTRA

One of Our Own

The purpose of Al Qaeda's latest video message is to get Muslims to hate Barack Obama. It didn't work.

By Ahmed Benchemsi | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Nov 20, 2008

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  • Posted By: nufflove @ 11/29/2008 12:27:20 AM

    When at the bottom there is no where else to go but up. We have descended to the pits of civilised conduct and will soon vomit the blood and filth we have ingested from self-inflicted sadism. We have long lost our claim as the gem of creation, with actions that make the vilest of animals shudder in shame. As a beautiful lily rising up from the grime and stench of a cesspool we will shall also - a unified world pursuing and embracing peace through the one common denominator of LOVE, innate and genetically etched in the hearts of every soul black or white, rich or poor, east or west Muslim or Christian. Lasting peace is firmly rooted in love- the highest measure of intelligence

  • Posted By: nufflove @ 11/29/2008 12:25:51 AM

    When at the bottom there is no where else to go but up. We have descended to the pits of civilised conduct and will soon vomit the blood and filth we have ingested from self-inflicted sadism. We have long lost our claim as the gem of creation, with actions that make the vilest of animals shudder in shame. As a beautiful lily rising up from the grime and stench of a cesspool we will shall also - a unified world pursuing and embracing peace through the one common denominator of LOVE, innate and genetically etched in the hearts of every soul black or white, rich or poor, east or west Muslim or Christian. Lasting peace is firmly rooted in love- the highest measure of intelligence

  • Posted By: ellensewall @ 11/28/2008 8:18:44 PM

    Fascinating analysis, thanks

  • Posted By: vegasgurl @ 11/28/2008 3:23:45 PM

    Hey where's Bin Laden been? Is he dead? Ayman al-Zawahiri is speaking again and of course on video. Al Qaeda has got to be the biggest bunch of cowards and sissies. The leaders never show up in person to make a statement, they're always on the run, and all they know how to do is stir up fear and create violence. They seem to be following the Lucifer more than Islam.

  • Posted By: behonest @ 11/26/2008 4:50:28 PM

    take into account that this is not an American writing an American article in America. This is someone who is in neither country and has a nuetrul poisition. Their translation is correct, look it up. Everything about this article is correct, and if your that afraid to accept the truth, that you rather comment on translation then the situation at hand, then maybe you should close your mouth and try not to look stupid. Everyone knows that Pres.-elect abama has different views on how to handle situations, but given the last 8 years of governing that proceded it, I would think any normal minded person would welcome the much needed change.

  • Posted By: IMPEACHOBAMA @ 11/22/2008 8:31:25 PM

    Hey Bobulon...Calling me a white supremacist coward because of my user name is right out of your liberal playbook. Our military servicemen and women put their lives on the line everyday so morons like you can have bumper stickers that read "Impeach Bush", Hang Bush" or Bush is not my President". Didn't Nancy Pelosi or some other prominent Democrat refer to Bush as Hitler? Let's go ahead and apply a moral equivalence to my user name and your BS bumper stickers. I guess that would make all of those people hate mongers as well. Unlike you, I'm going to support a war time president. And just for the record I support a limited Govt., strong military, low taxes and a ban in partial birth abortion. Those are the reasons I don't support Obama...race has nothing to do with it.

    • Posted By: phillycat @ 11/25/2008 1:02:47 PM

      so your pro-life until your born, and then its pro-death until you die.....right. Your not bright because "your "wartime president has expanded the government more than any president in history......and put our credibility and economy in the dumps....your a sheep....you say baaaaaaaaa! I say hee haw to you sir.

  • Posted By: blackmanlynched @ 11/22/2008 3:27:42 AM

    I'm glad zawhairi commented on the all too obvious. yes the comfortable white liberalized amerikkka loves to believe it's work of pacifying it's negros(many house indeed) is fufilled. In many respects it has worked(i.e. hiphop, pollichickens, buck dancin preachers, mindless atheletes and entertainers, etc...

    Although arabs(and the like) should keep to their own ills...zawahiri was brilliant in addressing the obvious. Many of us Black folk unlike the glittering mullatto obama are increasingly more volatile, knowledgeable, more collective, and more hostile and above all are educating ourselves(thanks to arab's examples) on revenge. We don't forget about OUR icons like Malcom...what whites deem "radical". We know the depths of th evil whites prevent and thankfully due to technology, information, and groups like those arabs we have no reason to continue mindless assimilation obama style or better yet fear for any retribution of finding OUR forms of retribution towards a dying eurocentric society, people or ilk....

    • Posted By: phillycat @ 11/25/2008 12:57:02 PM

      dude, your right to some degree.......but it is a positive first step for country that has institutional and systemic racism.

    • Posted By: McLovinB @ 11/22/2008 3:25:35 PM

      Why would a black person choose BLACKMANLYNCHED as a name to post under?
      This really reads like a white person's imagination of what a radical black person's thoughts might be like. It does show some interesting points though, about similarity between what Malcolm X spoke of, and say, the rhetoric of David Duke and the KKK.
      Both see assimilation and peaceful relations as inherently bad. Both hate the status quo, whatever it is. Each sees the other racial group as evil. And BOTH would like what zawahiri said.

      In short, if we assume that somebody LIKE a KKK member wrote this while posing as a black Malcolm X or other radical, then we can see that 1) neither group has mainstream Americans' best interests at heart, and 2) both groups are running scared.

      • Posted By: AsianAfricanAmerican @ 11/24/2008 1:12:07 PM

        Malcom X realized the error of his beliefs and starting preaching out against the Nation of Islam. That's why he was assasinated. Personally, I still feel his earlier teachings were not on par with David Duke. I don't agree at all with the Nation of Islam beliefs, especially the Yakub nonsense, but I don't consider them similiar to the KKK. They never preached violence and lynching white folks...they preached self-defense.

        I agree with the rest of your post, though.

    • Posted By: TheVigil @ 11/22/2008 11:16:32 AM

      "When you plot revenge, dig two graves."

      • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 11/22/2008 1:37:41 PM

        The poster is most likely a white guy trolling. Just saying.

        • Posted By: AsianAfricanAmerican @ 11/24/2008 1:04:38 PM

          Definitel not black. Mullatto is not a word used EVER in the black community. Dark skinned vs lighted skinned black hatred barely, if even, exists today. Almost every black person knows that Malcom X denounced virtirolic rhetoric like this idiot spewed...that's why he was assasinated. You guys are spot...he's a white troll.

  • Posted By: qtqueenbee @ 11/25/2008 9:24:54 AM

    Initially I did not believe the report. It just didn't seem correct that words from 40 years ago would be used by non americans in the correct context. From what I understand of the comment now, there was something lost in the translation. On National Public Radio (on 11/24/08) I heard that the translation was "white house negro" or a "black man in the white house". I think you should update your article or get a NEUTRAL translator.

  • Posted By: dlucyrucker @ 11/24/2008 2:19:32 PM

    I was so amused when I heard the term"house negro" come out of the mouth of a foreigh terrorist. My first reaction was where in the world did he find that old fashioned totally out of date phrase from. It reminded me of the listening to my uncle and his friends who were Black Nationalists and then became muslims during the sixties and the seventies. Then when it became clear that he referenced Malcolm X, it showed just how global the old tired culture wars from the sixties has become. What many people termed a racial insult is much more than that. It is part of an internal war between Blacks about who has more credibility and clout in our community. The same fight that DeBois and Washington fought. Let it go people, President Elect Obama is part of the generation of all colors who are tired of fighting the 1960's over and over. Let it go--we have too much to worry about. It's been over 40 years enough already

  • Posted By: brooklynskies @ 11/24/2008 2:11:08 PM

    Mr. Benchemsi, you over simplify Malcolm X in your reference, reducing a transformative and heroic figure in American history to a one-dimensional radical fundamentalist. That is not only insulting, but misses an important point that your article suffers for. Malcolm's story is ultimately one of evolution, of the transformation of hate towards compassion. Obama is not Malcolm nor Martin, nor is his mission quite the same. But I'm sure he is proud to extend their legacy forward, and in spite of the fear and division that still exist here and abroad, his energy might encourage us all to work towards a greater unity

  • Posted By: AmericanMan63 @ 11/24/2008 12:35:30 PM

    Im sorry Mr. Benchemsi, was there a point to this article? You might better express that point if you take President-elect Obama's **** out of your mouth and articulate what it is your trying to get across.... or was that the point you were trying to make?

  • Posted By: ok4u @ 11/23/2008 2:27:07 PM

    Amazing. The horror and shock expressesd at the name-calling of Obama by some looney Al Qaeda guy would be funny if it weren't so sad. "Ha ha, it didn't work" is the response to the awfulness of it. Anyone remember how many these crazies have killed, and how many are still being killed? How many beheadings? Where's the horror at real horror? But we get all wound up over a racial insult. Pathetic.

  • Posted By: kitcey @ 11/21/2008 3:18:03 PM

    So hunting terrorists to the ends of the Earth and killing them enables terrorism, but being a Black politician with Hussein as your middle name and releasing hundreds terrorists from Guantanamo Bay prison to recontinue their fight against the West is strong on terror? Hey Newsweek writer, get a clue as to how the world really works!

    • Posted By: McLovinB @ 11/23/2008 5:10:10 AM

      I do not want to get in too tightly with the tin hat crowd, but Bin Laden's survival has enabled a lot of people in Washington to do things to Americans and people in other countries that they could not otherwise do. I will not push that to an accusation, I will just leave it as an observation.

      Obama does not have a mandate to get Bin Laden once and for all, but he is more likely to get it done, if you get my drift. Let's just say that Obama does not need him as much as the previous administration did.

      That is how the world really works.

    • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 11/22/2008 1:45:55 PM

      "So hunting terrorists to the ends of the Earth and killing them enables terrorism"

      Two things:

      1. Yeah, when you invade the wrong country, and

      2. Why haven't we killed Osama Bin Ladin? Is it really that hard to find a 7 foot tall Arab?

  • Posted By: thessen21 @ 11/22/2008 6:45:46 PM

    On the contrary, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan started the decline in al-Qaida's image because the fighting drew more attention to the violence. As much as many American people hated the war in Iraq and hated Bush, the decline of al-Qaida's popularity and image started during the troop surge in Iraq. The Sunnis have led the way in helping Americans push al-Qaida out, seeing how indiscriminant al-Qaida was in its killing. Suicide bombers caused way more collateral damage than our air strikes. In other words, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan exposed al-Qaida's overzealous attitude for Islamic extremism, and thus caused many Muslims, even other radical Muslims, to speak out against al-Qaida.

  • Posted By: thessen21 @ 11/22/2008 6:36:28 PM

    The war on terrorism wasn't all that bad as people think. If anything, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have drawn more worldwide attention to al-Qaida's indescriminant violence. That is what's causing al-Qaida's declining image. Plus, al-Qaida's negative images began to grow during the troop surge in Iraq, when the Sunni and Shiite tribes began to trust the Americans more. The Sunnis have led the way in helping the Americans fight al-Qaida in Iraq. So, as unpopular as the war in Iraq was for the U.S., it still in a way exposed al-Qaida's overzealous methods and led to their popular decline in the Muslim world.

  • Posted By: AshamedofYou @ 11/22/2008 10:38:52 AM

    One could speculate that Obama and Zawahiri are working in concert, they share an ideology; they both hate America, they both hate our Military.

    • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 11/22/2008 11:21:21 AM

      You're an idiot.

      • Posted By: AshamedofYou @ 11/22/2008 12:01:47 PM

        Prove me wrong.

        • Posted By: texaslibby @ 11/22/2008 6:02:35 PM

          You're a jackass...prove me wrong.

        • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 11/22/2008 1:36:29 PM

          How does one prove a negative? For example, I could say "Bush eats human infants in the White House basement every other Tuesday...prove me wrong", and be just as logical as you are being. You made some assertions (Obama hates America; Obama hates the military; Obama works with Zawahiri)...it is up to you to prove these assertions, not up to the sane segment of the country to "prove you wrong".

    • Posted By: McLovinB @ 11/22/2008 3:12:32 PM

      Doc Howl is right. You would really have to prove that they both hate America and that they both hate our military. Assuming that ZAWA already does those, you would have to prove that Obama does both. Then, well, I guess you could speculate, but you would have no way of knowing if they really were working in concert.
      It seems unlikely that Obama hates America since they just gave him a job that he sought and that he seems to be proud of. I dont see any reason for him to hate the military.
      Are you psychic?

  • Posted By: kitcey @ 11/21/2008 3:22:55 PM

    Joe the Plumber is going to make a sweet dime thanks to 16 illegal inquiries into his records. The Ohio government is going make him a man targeted by Obama's proposed tax plan, because after his civil lawsuit, he's going to be millionaire a few times over. Good job, Ohio Democrats!

    • Posted By: nimodahooligan @ 11/21/2008 4:21:46 PM

      "So hunting terrorists to the ends of the Earth and killing them enables terrorism, but being a Black politician with Hussein as your middle name and releasing hundreds terrorists from Guantanamo Bay prison to recontinue their fight against the West is strong on terror? Hey Newsweek writer, get a clue as to how the world really works!"

      im going to pick this apart for you....


      "So hunting terrorists to the ends of the Earth and killing them enables terrorism"

      answer: yes. and why? because every time we send a missle strike we end up killing innocent people that already are at odds with western culture. that would piss off a whole family dont you think? so what does al qaida do? they use such attacks to they're advantage and use it as a recruiting tool against us. the more of them we kill, the more that will join the ranks and we see the vicious cycle that we are witnessing today.

      "but being a Black politician with Hussein as your middle name and releasing hundreds terrorists from Guantanamo Bay prison to recontinue their fight against the West is strong on terror?"

      answer: yes AND no...why? being a black man with the middle name hussein is extremely common in many parts on the globe and has no relevence to terrorism, unless your a terrorist living in the middle east with the middle name hussein. and do you know what these militants do once they are put into quantanamo? they begin to network with the more prominent al qaida leaders that are already imprisoned, they make plans for what they will do when released (and if youve been paying attention to the gitmo trials, alot of the terrorists that "took part" in terroristic acts are being released already back to they're respective native lands), they recruit others that went to gitmo under false allegations and have no ties to terrorists, the men and women that get tortured and released go sign up at the nearest training camp...

      and now joe the plumber comment:

      peoples personal records can be viewed or you can pay to "inquire" about them. its called a background check. not illegal. companies and average folk do it everyday. they are not doing anything illegal. and "joe the plumber" didnt get his 15 min of fame from the dems, no no no, the GOP made him the poster child for they're parties campaign in desperate attempts to gain middle class votes.

      IF, a very strong IF, he gets a trial he will be spending his settlement money on lawyers and court fees. its not cheap to challenge 16 inquiries made by government paid officials. and what if he wins?

      will he pay his outstanding fines? will he GET HIS PLUMBING LICENSE? will he finally live his dream of purchasing that ILLEGALLY OPERATED PLUMBING BUSINESS he loved and talked about so much?

      • Posted By: kitcey @ 11/21/2008 4:30:16 PM

        funny...if joe the plumber was a liberal, the ACLU would be going crazy right now, but illegal searches by the government against someone that dares question a liberal...you hear crickets from the ACLU....nevertheless, those 16 searches were illegal, and Joe will win a civil case because of it.

        • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 11/22/2008 4:58:37 PM

          The people who did those searches belong in prison, IMO. A civil case is not enough. Abuse of power cannot be tolerated, no matter which party engages in it.

        • Posted By: nimodahooligan @ 11/21/2008 4:50:20 PM

          "funny...if joe the plumber was a liberal, the ACLU would be going crazy right now, but illegal searches by the government against someone that dares question a liberal...you hear crickets from the ACLU....nevertheless, those 16 searches were illegal, and Joe will win a civil case because of it."


          well, joe the plumber is not a liberal, obviously. you wonder why your only hear crickets from the ACLU? because they know hes full of crap. and if the GOVERNMENT was making inquiries into his records how is that illegal? the government filed them...and theres a big difference between "inquiring" and "stealing" records.

          if his records WERE accessed illegally this would have come up weeks ago and would have made some news somewhere....ESPECIALLY on newsweek, a rather liberal publication.

          and i havent heard anyone from the GOP saying squat about advocating for "joe" or otherwise.

          i will beleive you when you show me an article, or ANY type of evidence beyond your heresay. and i have no problem admitting when im wrong...

          • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/22/2008 12:47:12 AM

            Oh I've heard about it, but the point of issue with the lawsuit bit is that as far as known, all the people peeking at his data where government employees with authorized access to the database. So the recourse Joe has is to sue the State of Ohio. In that states are sovereign, Ohio would have to give its permission to allow the suit to proceed. Considering that there is no evidence that the information was passed on to unauthorized persons, Joe might recover as much as the cost of a new set of flannel long johns by suing.

        • Posted By: nimodahooligan @ 11/21/2008 4:38:34 PM

          show some proof they were illegal, cuz i havent heard anything about it...

          • Posted By: kitcey @ 11/21/2008 4:43:09 PM

            believe it when you see the court decision.

            • Posted By: nimodahooligan @ 11/21/2008 4:52:50 PM

              show me a news report, show me where you got your info....anything to prove that this case even exists...im not asking much...your shouting from a soap box and not showing anyone anything beyond what you present at face value.

              • Posted By: cinesimon @ 11/21/2008 11:55:16 PM

                kitcey's comments are pretty much verbatim from that pillar of journalism: the O'Reilly Factor.

        • Posted By: nimodahooligan @ 11/21/2008 4:59:43 PM

          its funny thats the only part your replied to in regards to my posting...

    • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 11/22/2008 1:44:20 PM

      Is that one of those "frivolous lawsuits" I used to hear republicans bitch about?

      Just wondering what you use as a standard.

    • Posted By: r2626 @ 11/21/2008 10:12:42 PM

      Where did you learn that?

  • Posted By: kitcey @ 11/21/2008 4:44:16 PM

    Instead of restructuring Detroit auto makers, the Democrats want to try to unionize the foreign auto companies in the South to "level the playing field." Of course the law of unintended consequences will take over if that's done, and the foreign auto makers will abandon this country, taking all automobile jobs in the United States with them back to Japan, Germany, and Korea, leaving the US with no auto manufacturing or automobile jobs at all.

    When will the stupid liberals finally understand that unions are the death of competitive capitalism? Probably never, because liberal is just another name for socialist comrade.

    • Posted By: nimodahooligan @ 11/21/2008 5:15:42 PM

      i dont know if you noticed or not, but "free capitolism" kind of collapsed in on itself all on its own...no thanks to deregulation due to both dems and repubs...

      "the big 3" failed because they werent coming out with new cars with better fuel efficiency and longer usage, instead they literally spent the last 10 years producing MORE and BIGGER SUV's and trucks than fuel efficient cars, with half the parts being made in other countries is it a suprise theres a failing job market?. the made THEMSELVES broke, and in "free capitolism" your free to make as much money, and mistakes, as you want, and your free to fail. but guess what, a very "socialist" notion has come up...lets use tax payers dollars and spread the wealth around to mega corporations that made bad business decisions and bail them out! great. they wanted BIG profit, so logically, get people buying BIG cars right? well, thanks to a whole chain of events i.e. houseing crisis, war, failing economy, deregulation, and toxic lending practices they were bound to fail if they didnt change they're ways. and now they failed, so let them fall and be replaced with bigger, better, more progressive thinking car companies i.e. honda, toyota, suzuki, hyundai etc... at this point forign auto makers plants are about to outnumber domestic auto makers plants. not only that, they have better wages, better benefits, better retirement packages, and the ability to climb the corporate ladder from the bottom up.

      • Posted By: PPC7 @ 11/21/2008 11:40:39 PM

        You have no idea of what you speak. I worked in the auto industry for years (U.S & Foreign) They both make gas guzzling vehicles...Totoya Tundra (big and bigger size) Sequoia. Nissan Titan, Armada. I could go on. All of these will not come close to 20mpg.

        • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 11/22/2008 4:57:04 PM

          And yet the Japanese automakers are surviving, and ours go to Washington in Lear Jets with beggar's cups.

          If Kissinger winning the peace prize hadn't killed irony, that would have.

    • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 11/22/2008 1:40:30 PM

      "When will the stupid liberals finally understand that unions are the death of competitive capitalism? "

      Looking back at, say, 1904, unrestrained competitive capitalism is the death of the worker. Management is oganized (by definition)...why can't the employees be organized as well?

    • Posted By: jarcher1 @ 11/22/2008 12:28:09 AM

      You really are full of it. Lenin hated unionism because he recognized that unions were a much easier path for workers to improve their lot than revolting and setting up a communist system. If you could use just a touch of analytical thought, it would be crystal clear to you that unions can only truly function in a captialist system. In a socialist system they are pretty much pointless, except maybe as a social club.

    • Posted By: nimodahooligan @ 11/21/2008 5:20:18 PM

      too much of an american to speak to an open minded liberal or what?

    • Posted By: nimodahooligan @ 11/21/2008 4:58:02 PM

      republican is just another word for fascist religious fanatics. hows that for ya?

      "every communist is a socialist, every socialist is NOT a communist"

      russia is communist, china is communist, sweden is SOCIALIST...check into the quality of living of each then compare and contrast for yourself.

  • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 11/22/2008 3:24:57 PM

    In the end, who cares what Zawahiri says? He is a barbarian. His day is coming...he has had some luck dodging ordinance so far, but the one thing America does VERY well is make ordinance. He can't dodge forever.

  • Posted By: havertownfire @ 11/21/2008 2:26:49 PM

    This is the most ingratiating article written so far about Obama, does the writer really believe the Muslim world will suddenly become pro-American because of the color and name of our President? The Muslim World didn't care when we stopped the slaughtering of Muslims in the Balkans, or when we liberated Kuwait and protected Saudi Arabia, the home of Mecca and Medina. They don't take into consideration the committment we made to Afghanistan and Iraq, where we continued to stay and fight against extremists, restoring democratic governments, while not grabbing the oil and other resources that our opponents said we would take. I personally fought to protect both Shia and Sunni mosques in Iraq, and it wasn't the Mormons who were attacking! Jordan and Egypt, along with many other countries, currently accept massive amounts of US foreign aid, and neither is an oil producing nation. The author has his head so far up Obama's ass he misses the truth that the Islamic Extremists hate the US for our freedoms, and the Muslim World is its own worse enemy.

    • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 11/21/2008 3:07:56 PM

      Stay the course!

      Or words to that effect. Sorry, man. The GOP lost. These things happen.

      • Posted By: Snorkeldorf @ 11/21/2008 10:55:06 PM

        In case you missed it, this article was written from the moderate Islamic perspective by a Muslim man living in a Muslim country. Believe it or not, the vast majority of Muslims throughout the world share this perspective. In fact, you might be surprised, if you actually took the trouble to acquaint yourself with any, how similar the moderate Muslim's values are to your own. They want nothing more than to live in a world at peace where they can work hard and provide their children with better life than they had. That isn't just "the American Dream," it's the world-wide dream.

        So, instead of trashing this guy because of your knee-jerk opposition to Mr. Obama, why not open your mind and try to understand what he's saying instead? Since the media in general tends to focus on the sensational (i.e. the extremists), one rarely gets a glimpse of the "moderate view". Take advantage and learn from it, please!

        Btw, Egypt has lots of oil and natural gas as evidenced by the number of "Big Oil" companies with a huge presence there. Instead of exporting, however, they choose to use most of it domestically and heavily subsidize its sale to the populace. While I lived in Cairo (2005 - 2007), normal unleaded gas prices were fixed at 1 Egyptian pound / Liter (about 67 cents / gallon - with full service, no less!). Shortly after I left, when oil prices had climbed to their highest levels, the government raised the price 30%. As you might imagine, this resulted in quite an uproar especially since food prices rose a similar amount in shortly afterwards. For the vast majority of people already struggling just to get by, this was a huge hit on their ability to make ends meet.

        • Posted By: Doc Howl @ 11/22/2008 1:46:35 PM

          To whom are you speaking?

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