****One such example has to do with the story behind how Ansar Al-Sharia came to be.
Muslim.org reports that Al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri received a letter calling for Al-Qaeda’s name to be changed to Ansar Al-Sharia for what should be considered an obvious reason. When the U.S. declares war on Ansar Al-Sharia, the name of the group implies that the U.S. would be declaring war on Sharia law, which would serve as an excellent terrorist recruiting tool.
Bin Laden: Al-Qaeda must change its name to Ansar Al-Sharia Bin Laden: Al-Qaeda must change its name to Ansar Al-Sharia
Mareb Press also reported on this rationale behind the name change.
Al-Shorfa actually reported on Osama bin Laden’s involvement in giving Al-Qaeda a new identity:
“Osama bin Laden has expressed a desire to change the name of the organization, according to a prepared message on his computer, which was confiscated from his home in the Pakistani city of Abbottobad after his death. The letter revealed that bin Laden was aware that the organization needed to be ‘re-marketed’ and change its name to include the new organization so as not to be linked to the activities of al-Qaeda.” [emphasis mine]
The attacks in Benghazi carried the Al-Qaeda trademark. Yet, the Obama administration attempted to avoid identifying Ansar al-Sharia as having been involved. Why?
Let’s take a look at what Magharebia has to say in an article entitled, “Decline in the influence of al-Qaeda and the rise of Ansar al-Sharia”. Again, bin Laden’s wishes come into play:
“Moroccan researcher Abdullah Al-Rami shows that the Ansar al-Sharia groups of today are the ideological arm for human resources and financial support to al-Qaeda.”
He stated further that…
“…this was the last will of Usama Bin Laden.”
How about Almasdar, which announced:
“’Ansar al-Sharia’ announces for the first time that its leader is the commander of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Abu Basir Louhichi.”****
I wasn’t aware of this. Thank you for the post.