
Sounds like something I used to smoke in the Seventies, but it’s another tape from the possibly jailed/possibly not religious psycho killer. The question is - is it real or is it Memorex?
Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has declared a “bitter war” on Iraq’s parliamentary elections in an audio tape posted on the Internet.
The tape urged Sunni Muslims to fight against the vote next Sunday, which the speaker said was a plot against them by Washington and its “infidel” Shi’ite Muslim allies.
“We have declared a bitter war against the principle of democracy and all those who seek to enact it,” the speaker, who was identified as Zarqawi, said.
“Candidates in elections are seeking to become demi-gods while those who vote for them are infidels. And with God as my witness, I have informed them (of our intentions).”
Demi-gods, eh? Well, he’s got a point there. [Was he talking about Tom Delay or Nancy Pelosi?--ed. You decide.] But whether he is real or Memorex this version of Zarqawi sounds shrill and frightened, like a man whose side is losing. On second thought, maybe Zarqawi’s just like any pol in the waning days of a campaign, throwing “Hail, Mary!” passes, the Islamic version anyway. Last week he called top Shi’ite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani a “satan”. Or maybe he’s just auditioning for a part in the next South Park movie.
UPDATE: Austin Bay takes this all a bit more seriously — as he should.
MORE: Andrew Stuttaford with an enlightening compare-and-contrast.





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10 Comments
1. Terrye:Roger:
Insomnia? It is 7:45 on a snowy Sunday morning here in Indiana but it is still night time out there on the west coast.
I don’t know what to think of Zarawi’s tapes. Sometimes I wonder if he is really making them, they seem so dumb for a man that is plainly not dumb. Wacko maybe, but not stupid.
I heard some expert talking about Iraq on Fox one day and he said this is about a minority giving up power over the majority. Not so different he said from South Africa or Bosnia. I dunno, but in those countries there were no suicide bombers on drugs bent on killing themselves and as many other people as possible. I read the Marines found a lot of drugs, especially herion in Fallujah and they think that the purpose of the drugs is to give the killers courage.
I don’t know but it seems to me the Kurds are willing to give it a chance and they are not the majority and I think even many of the Sunnis do not want this nut job ruling a country they live in. I am sure that a lot of the Iraqis being killed are Sunnis too. Who the hell is Zarqawi to tell Iraqis what they will do? I think this is why Saddam brought him into the country. I think the cells were already in place before the invasion and Zarqawi’s job is to continue the Saddam tradition of killing Iraqis, Americans, Brits, and anyone else he feels so inclined to murder.
And yes, he does sound desperate.
Jan 23, 2005 - 5:03 am 2. mezzrow:Desperate? No doubt he is. I think we are simply not equipped to think like these guys do.
The entire islamofascist outfit is so committed to their path despite the feedback they receive from the world at large, it brings me back to Lee Harris’s essay on the fantasy ideology of the jihadis:
http://www.policyreview.org/AUG02/harris_print.html
If you haven’t read this, go back and do it. Harris makes me think of those in all intensely religious mindsets who have determined to live what we who were raised Baptist in the South would call “separated” lives. (tortured sentence alert!! - ed.) In short, I think what these jokers are really doing is calling God out to bring on a miracle for their side, and putting their lives up as collateral - the more lives they can offer, the greater the possibility that God will step up to the plate and smite the infidel. “We will win. You love life - we love death.”
It’s the only card they have left before they submit to living under man’s law, rather than God’s law, as they see it - and they’re saying ‘yo God, we’re showing we would die rather than live under any law but yours - how’s about a little help, huh?’ You and I are the infidels and the agents of Satan, to be sure, but we in the West are really more than tertiary characters in this twisted psychodrama. It’s really not about us - it is deeply and totally about them to them. If you read Qutb and understand how diametrically opposed he is to modern culture, you can begin to see the real sickness at the heart of this whole universal tantrum. I’ll shut up and listen now.
Thanks to Terrye for all the good insight through the months, BTW.
Jan 23, 2005 - 6:08 am 3. Bostonian:Thanks for the link, mezzrow–and your insights.
Jan 23, 2005 - 6:32 am 4. Terrye:I read that 5,000 American sailors were killed by Kamikazes during WW2. The idea that the enemy is willing to die for his beliefs is not new, what makes these folks dangerous is that suicide martyrdom seems the prefered path.
Jan 23, 2005 - 9:50 am 5. chuck:Mezzrow,
Thanks for the link. Lee Harris’ article crystalizes many odds and ends that have been rattling around in my mind. One of the little thoughts that have occurred to me is the similarity of Al Qaeda and the Salafist movement to the Ghost Dancers phenomenon back in the 1890’s. Another is the fact that trolls come in here and talk about caring, for the soldiers, for the suffering Iraqis, when it seems to me they don’t actually care in the least for any of the actual people: it is just a symbol in their own moral universe. In fact, I would extend this further and apply it to the Democratic Party as a whole. The deep unseriousnous that I see in the party is simply a reflection of their obsession with symbols and their own fantasy life. They are not concerned with real things, such as roads. I think the party’s obsession with voter fraud is part of this; in their fantasy life they are the true representitives of the majority, and the only way they could lose is if something underhanded is going on.
Anyway, thanks again for the link.
Jan 23, 2005 - 10:30 am 6. Bostonian:Chuck, to amplify your last sentence about the Democratic party, here’s Ted Kennedy, 1/12/05:
“We, as Democrats, may be in the minority in Congress, but we speak for the majority of Americans.”
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A4354-2005Jan12?language=printer)
Jan 23, 2005 - 1:18 pm 7. Neo:Of, course if the election goes off well enough, Zarqawi is a failure, having been abandoned by Allah as the true “infidel”.
The Sunnis, on the other hand, are just plain old fashioned losers. Having hitched their wagon to Sadaam, they made their lot. Running with the “likes of Zarqawi,” the Sunnis will seal their future fate as Losers. The best they could do is to hitch up with the Americans, who are their only hope in making sure their minority rights aren’t tramped by the majority Shia.
Jan 23, 2005 - 1:44 pm 8. thedragonflies:With Zarqawi’s outright declaration of war against democracy in Iraq isn’t it obvious to all, maybe even Chomsky and Moore, that the war in Iraq is agaisnt the Iraqi people, not against American “occupation”?
Jan 23, 2005 - 3:21 pm 9. Terrye:dragonflies:
Haven’t you heard? According to Moore Z-man is the revolution, like our own minutemen.
Now it might be true that Paul Revere was not famous for eviscerating women or decapitating people while screaming God is Great is Arabic we should mindful that other cultures have their own values.
In fact I think Moore should go over to Iraq and track Zarqawi down and volunteer to fight for the cause.
I mean golly gee why be a chicken terrorist?
Jan 23, 2005 - 4:21 pm 10. BoshTang:Polling has started in IRAQ. Lets hope things turn out ok there.
BoshTang
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Jan 29, 2005 - 9:03 pm