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AL-Qaeda Spiritual Leader Recants
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/12/alqaeda_spiritual_leader_recan.html ^ | 12/20/07

Posted on 12/20/2007 8:46:16 AM PST by HD1200

A senior al-Qaeda theologian has changed his tune and is calling on al-Qaeda members to put down their arms:

In a serialized manifesto written from prison in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif is blasting Osama bin Laden for deceiving the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and for insulting the Prophet Muhammad by comparing the September 11 attacks to the early raids of the Ansar warriors. The lapsed jihadist even calls for the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and his old comrade Ayman al-Zawahri.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; bush; iraq; radicalislam; sharif; victory; zawahri
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A senior al-Qaeda theologian has changed his tune and is calling on al-Qaeda members to put down their arms:

In a serialized manifesto written from prison in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif is blasting Osama bin Laden for deceiving the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and for insulting the Prophet Muhammad by comparing the September 11 attacks to the early raids of the Ansar warriors. The lapsed jihadist even calls for the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and his old comrade Ayman al-Zawahri.

The disclosures from Mr. Sharif, also known as Dr. Fadl and Abd al-Qadir ibn Abd al-Aziz, have already opened a rift at the highest levels of Al Qaeda. The group's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, a former associate of the defecting theologian in Egypt, personally mocked him last month in a video, remarking that he was unaware Egyptian prisons had fax machines. Meanwhile, leading Western analysts are saying the defection of Mr. Sharif indicates the beginning of the end for Al Qaeda.

The author of "Inside Al Qaeda," Rohan Gunaratna said in an interview this week, "There is nothing more important than a former jihadist as important as Dr. Fadl criticizing the jihadist vanguard." Mr. Gunaratna, who acts at times as a consultant for American and Western intelligence, described the reformed theologian as "both an ideologue and operational leader, but he was primarily an ideologue."

Al-Qaeda's destruction in Iraq must have really unnerved the leadership. Along with Zawahri's unreal pronouncement last week that the British "fled" Iraq and that the jihadis were winning there (a view shared by perhaps no one else in the world except Harry Reid), it appears that the organization is losing it.

What effect this will have on al-Qaeda rank and file is uncertain. But it is a sign that whatever we're doing to combat the terrorists is working.

1 posted on 12/20/2007 8:46:16 AM PST by HD1200
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To: HD1200

Some people can’t bend, they must shatter.


2 posted on 12/20/2007 8:47:50 AM PST by null and void (I've always liked Ron Paul, he is not a like a serial rapist. - rovenstinez)
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To: null and void

Wow, this is big news, imo. I wonder how this will play out in Iraq specifically?


3 posted on 12/20/2007 8:49:30 AM PST by TheSuaveOne
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To: HD1200

It’s either the Egyptian prison food,
or he hears the Jew jets over head.


4 posted on 12/20/2007 8:53:25 AM PST by IrishMike (Liberalism is Jihad from within)
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To: HD1200

This should be front page, big font headlines in every paper in the country. Instead, we’re only seeing it in blogs and FR. Thanks for the post!


5 posted on 12/20/2007 8:53:48 AM PST by MizSterious (Deport all the illegals to sanctuary cities.)
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To: TheSuaveOne
I suspect we’ll make sure word gets around...
6 posted on 12/20/2007 8:55:23 AM PST by null and void (I've always liked Ron Paul, he is not a like a serial rapist. - rovenstinez)
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To: HD1200
"Al-Qaeda's destruction in Iraq must have really unnerved the leadership."

Nothing says "loser" quite like...well...losing. ;)

7 posted on 12/20/2007 8:55:32 AM PST by MizSterious (Deport all the illegals to sanctuary cities.)
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To: HD1200

I’m not sure it will have much of an effect on the rank-n-file, since he’s recanting while serving his time in the care of the godless infidels.


8 posted on 12/20/2007 8:56:04 AM PST by reagan_fanatic (Ron Paul put the cuckoo in my Cocoa Puffs)
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To: HD1200

blah. I thought this thread was about Harry Reid.


9 posted on 12/20/2007 8:58:54 AM PST by tompster76 (Amnesty: No aspirations of citizenship to illegals - ever!)
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To: IrishMike
I wonder what his life expectancy will be when he is released. I think the warmongers will try and shut him up as fast as they can if we headline what he is saying.
10 posted on 12/20/2007 8:59:54 AM PST by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: HD1200

A senior al-Qaeda theologian has changed his tune and is calling on al-Qaeda members to put down their arms.

"Death to the apostate!!!"


11 posted on 12/20/2007 9:00:23 AM PST by COBOL2Java (May the Lord bless and keep Hillary Clinton - far away from the White House!)
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To: HD1200
Unfortunately, they will disregard it because he is in prison. They will claim he is being coerced or tortured into making these proclamations.

This is not the first time an Islamic Cleric has released these kinds of statements from an Egyptian jail.

12 posted on 12/20/2007 9:00:38 AM PST by Tex-Con-Man
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To: Abathar

He should immediately move to either Israel, or Brooklyn.


13 posted on 12/20/2007 9:01:09 AM PST by IrishMike (Liberalism is Jihad from within)
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To: HD1200

Will this message from, Mr. Sharif spread through the ranks?


14 posted on 12/20/2007 9:02:06 AM PST by Recon Dad (Marine Spec Ops Dad)
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To: HD1200

I don’t know the pecking order of Al-Quaeda ‘leaders’but this sounds like very big news to me. (Someone cue the Sauron’s Tower collapse scene) Disintegration from within, I love it. Pass the Christmas ham, please :-)


15 posted on 12/20/2007 9:02:15 AM PST by SueRae
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To: HD1200
Very important revelation that will get little to zero airplay by our fine upstanding independent media. Sarcasm for the media part of course.
16 posted on 12/20/2007 9:02:37 AM PST by jrooney (Ron Paul makes Jimmy Carter look tough and Dennis Kucinich look sane.)
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To: Tex-Con-Man

It wouldn’t matter if the spiritual leader was floating on a cloud as he made the statements either; they would say it was the work of satan.

The important point is that he IS MAKING THE STATEMENTS. As far as others; this is the first in which Zawahiri has been forced to respond because of the weight in the Al Queda community this theologian who formed much of their belief carries!

This news is not going to turn much of Al Queda away from what they perceive their mission is; it is a sign we are winning and those that conceived this ideology now are starting to doubt GOD is on their side......


17 posted on 12/20/2007 9:03:55 AM PST by HD1200
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To: HD1200
If I remember correctly from The Looming Tower this is the guy who was often at odds with Zawahri while Al-Queda was being built. I wonder if his "changed tune" has more to do with personal issues he has with Zawahiri and bin Laden rather than a big "seeing the light" kind of conversion.
18 posted on 12/20/2007 9:06:47 AM PST by Gator101 (Don't tase me, Bro!)
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To: HD1200

Another senior Al-Qaeda guy has professed a conversion to christ. But it might just be an act. With letters like this circulating, it would no longer be an act.

.

.

.

According to Intrade, the winner of the December 12th GOP debate was... Duncan Hunter.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938773/posts


19 posted on 12/20/2007 9:09:15 AM PST by Kevmo (We should withdraw from Iraq — via Tehran. And Duncan Hunter is just the man to get that job done.)
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To: Dog; jveritas

PING!


20 posted on 12/20/2007 9:21:35 AM PST by cibco (defconw - "Where do I get me a pheasant?")
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