Al-Qaeda: the cracks begin to show

The Sunday Times ^ | June 8, 2008 | Abul Taher

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

A succession of leading Muslim radicals has condemned the terror group’s tactics as its support in Islamic countries falls off dramatically. Is Britain following the pattern?

During Friday prayers this weekend, Dr Usama Hasan stood at the pulpit of his Tawhid mosque in Leyton, east London, and delivered a sermon on the sinfulness of alcohol and drugs.

It was quite a sedate affair compared with some of the sermons the 36-year-old imam has given. He often uses his platform to rally his congregation against terrorism, condemning Osama Bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda leader, and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri as unIslamic criminals.

This has earned Hasan death threats from some worshippers, while others have called him a “sell-out” and a “government stooge”.

Undeterred, Hasan has vowed to continue his fight against extremists. “It’s a hard struggle,” he said last week. “I’ve had people storm out in protest, but I’ve been involved in this mosque for 20 years so the vast majority of people still respect me.”

There is another reason why many of the young worshippers respect him: Hasan was himself once a jihadi. This has, he says, given him “street cred”.

In 1990, while an undergraduate at Cambridge University, he fell in with an extremist group which led him and three others to travel to Pakistan and then into Afghanistan.

There, Hasan says, he learnt how to use Kalashnikovs, M16s and hand grenades. He returned from his training after about two weeks and throughout the 1990s remained an admirer of Bin Laden.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Earlier threads :

The Unraveling

The New Republic ^ | 6/11/07 | Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank

The Unraveling

The New Republic ^ | May 26, 2008 | Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank

And Now the Sunday ?Times is showing it....Will the USA Media pick it up?

[snarks_when_bored]

Media people all over the place are making noise about how Al-Qaeda is on the ropes. Who benefits from such stories? Why, Barack Hussein Obama benefits, of course. Obama is weak on terror and has family members who are radical muslims, so he's helped if media outlets plant the suggestion in voters's minds that islamic terror is no longer a big enough threat to base their votes on.

It's very cute the way they do that, eh?

[hsalaw]

“I just could not understand why anyone would attack London."

But attacking the United States was okay? Well, anyway, I'm glad he's starting to question the terrorists' motive.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Their cracks have been showing for years.

[God luvs America]

bump

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

Sheikh Salman al-Oadah, a leading religious scholar from Saudi Arabia, addressed the Al-Qaeda leader in a television interview to mark the sixth anniversary of 9/11. “My brother Osama, how much blood has been spilt?” said Oadah. “How many innocent people, children, the elderly and women have been killed . . . in the name of Al-Qaeda?”

As if these jerks have a problem with killing the innocent. Nope, I'm not buying it. They have turned on Al-Qaeda because Al-Qaeda are losers. Al-Qaeda are losers because they have lost in Iraq. Nobody loves a loser. The only hope Al-Qaeda has left is an American named Barack Hussein Obama.

[littlehouse36]

[headstamp 2]

“This has earned Hasan death threats from some worshippers, while others have called him a “sell-out” and a “government stooge”.

Death threats from worshipers in the congregation. Fascinating “religion” yah got there folks.

[modest proposal]

Yeah that grated on my nerves too.

Jerk.

[VeniVidiVici]

This has earned Hasan death threats from some worshippers, while others have called him a “sell-out” and a “government stooge”.

Wow. Inner-city gangs do the same thing.

[Fichori]

Hasan CHOP!

[pleikumud]

The terrorists and sponsoring regimes such as North Korea, Syria, and Iran clearly would be better off if Obama were elected president. So would Hugo Chavez and Castro. They would rather have a friend in the White House than have John McCain. Obama’s natural constituency includes socialists, racists, and government bureaucrats. Obama would bring us even bigger government than the Republicans have. And to pay for it, Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress would significantly raise taxes, which would further damage our economy. Obama and the Democrats are fundamentally opposed to capitalism and the US Constitution. They are the Enemy Within.

[Darkwolf377]

Al-Qaeda: the cracks begin to show

So of course there';s no reason to even consider electing the stronger candidate when it comes to McCain's strongest issue. See? Al Qaeda's just going away, like magic. Now we can put Obama in charge, and the world will love us again. And we can spend all our money on welfare and education and healthcare and love and non-sexist language and teaching kids to respect the transgendered and not judge people by their skin color unless they're white and male and all that good stuff, and of course raise taxes. Because Al Qaeda's just evaporating, like it would have if we'd just cried after 9-11 and asked them why they hate us, and can't we dialogue...

BLECH!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest.

I think we’d better file such stories under “hudna”.

But these are much better (thanks also for these links):

Coalition forces capture Basrah-based Special Groups criminal in Baghdad
Multi-National Force - Iraq
Posted on 06/08/2008 7:39:23 AM PDT by SandRat
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027876/posts

Four Special Groups leaders captured in South (Iraq )
Long War Journal | June 6, 2008 3:28 PM | Bill Roggio
Posted on 06/07/2008 9:41:09 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027792/posts

[Marine_Uncle]

"Will the USA Media pick it up? "
Perhaps a equal important question is, will more Muslims understand they gain nothing participating in terrorism.