Here we go, folks. There may be no diplomacy that can save the world from an all out religious World War III now.
Al-Qaida issued a call today for Muslims to rise up in a “holy war” against Israel and its allies and join the fighting until Islam reigns from “Spain to Iraq.”
In the message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, Ayman al-Zawahri, second in command to Osama bin Laden, said that al-Qaida now views “all the world as a battlefield open in front of us.”
The Egyptian-born physician said that the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and Palestinian militants would not be ended with “cease-fires or agreements.”
“It is a jihad (holy war) for the sake of God and will last until (our) religion prevails” al-Zawahri said. “We will attack everywhere.”
Spain was controlled by Arab Muslims for more than seven centuries until they were driven from power in 1492.
Al-Zawahri accused some Arab regimes allied with Israel and the United States of being accomplices.
“My fellow Muslims, it is obvious that Arab and Islamic governments are not only impotent but also complicit,” he said. “You are alone on the battlefield. Rely on God and fight your enemies. Make yourselves martyrs.”
He also called for the “downtrodden” throughout the world, not just Muslims, to join the battle against “tyrannical Western civilization and its leader, America,” al-Zawahri said. “Stand with Muslims in confronting this unprecedented oppression and tyranny. Stand with us as we stand with you against this injustice that was forbidden by God in his book (the Quran).”
Kamal Habib, a former member of Egypt’s Islamic Jihad militant group who was jailed from 1981 to 1991 along with al-Zawahri, said the outreach to Shiites and non-Muslims was unprecedented and reflected a major change in tactics.
“This is a transformation in the vision of al-Qaida and its struggle with the United States,” he said. “It is now trying to unite Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims and calling for non-Muslims to join the fight.”
Al-Zawahri wore a gray robe and white turban in the video. A picture of the burning World Trade Center was on the wall behind him along with photos of two other militants. One appeared to be a bearded Mohamed Atta, the Egyptian ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks. The other was Mohammed Atef, also known as Abu Hafs al-Masri, a former top lieutenant of bin Laden who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan in November 2001.
“The shells and rockets ripping apart Muslim bodies in Gaza and Lebanon are not only Israeli (weapons), but are supplied by all the countries of the crusader coalition,” al-Zawahri said. “Therefore, every participant in the crime will pay the price.”
The message was al-Zawahri’s 10th this year. Bin Laden has issued five messages in a particularly active year of messages from the top al-Qaida leadership.
AP: Al-Qaida Calls for Holy War Against Israel
Analysis
Previously, these video messages have been followed by suicide bombings, including the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. So experts expect dramatic attacks to follow. But for reasons that can only be construed as political public relations in a mid-term election year, the U.S. Homeland Security Department has not ramped up the color-coded security alert system.
But be warned, especially if you live in one of the major population centers targeted by al-Qaeda. That means New York and Washington, D.C. in the U.S. If you have a bunker to escape to, get in it.
But first, call your Representatives in Congress and urge them to impeach Bush. It is his administration’s arrogant and incompetent policies that are responsible for this slippery slope to all out religious world war.
