Washington - Al-Qaeda's second-in-command condemned Barack
Obama in the group's first message since the November 4 election,
using a racial slur to suggest the president-elect is serving the
cause of white people.
In an audio recording released Wednesday by al-Qaeda, Ayman al-
Zawahiri called Obama 'the direct opposite of honourable black
Americans' and unlike Malcolm X, a radical figure of the 1960s civil
rights movement in the United States.
'You have reached the position of president, and a heavy legacy
of failure and crimes awaits you,' al-Zawahiri said in a direct
message to Obama, according to a transcript provided by the private
US-based IntelCenter. 'It appears that you continue to be captive to
the same criminal American mentality towards the world and towards
Muslims.'
The Egyptian-born al-Zawahiri grouped Obama with Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor Colin Powell, calling them
'House Negroes,' a racial epitaph commonly used by Malcolm X to
describe African Americans he believed served at the pleasure of
whites.
'You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the
ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews,
although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of
leadership in America,' al-Zawahiri said.
The Obama transition team refused to respond to Osama bin Laden's
deputy, but the White House condemned the remarks as showing why the
world must continue fighting al-Qaeda.
'What we have here is more despicable and pathetic comments by al-
Qaeda terrorists,' White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. 'And I
think that these comments just remind everybody of the kind of people
that we're dealing with.'
Al-Zawahiri's remarks show how isolated the terrorist network is
given Obama's worldwide popularity and it 'seems like they are tyring
to prove their relevancy,' a US counterterrorism official said.
'It appears they are out of touch with reality and what has been
going on in the world since the presidential election,' the official,
who requested anonymity, said.
The audio tape marks al-Qaeda's first mention of Obama. The group
did not release any videos ahead of the election and there has been
no word from bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding somewhere along
the Afghan-Pakistani border.
In 2004, bin Laden released a video just days before the US
election between President George W Bush and Democrat John Kerry. The
message is believed by some to have swung the election in Bush's
favour by turning US voters' minds back to security issues.
Obama's election was widely celebrated around the world in marked
contrast to the widespread unpopularity of Bush. The president-elect
promised during the campaign to restore the US' global image.
Obama has also vowed to renew the fight against al-Qaeda by
sending more troops to Afghanistan. He regularly criticized Bush on
the campaign trail for becoming distracted from the war against al-
Qaeda by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Obama, in a television interview
on Sunday, vowed to step up the US effort to capture or kill bin
Laden.
Al-Zawahiri said Obama is 'destined for failure' in Afghanistan
and has chosen a 'stance of hostility' towards Muslims owing to his
support of Israel. He said Americans' choice to elect a president who
advocated a withdrawal from Iraq showed the terrorist group was
winning the battle.
Obama will be inaugurated January 20 and his ascendency to the
White House will mark the first wartime transition of power in the US
since Vietnam.
Obama, a Christian, was born to a Kenyan father and white mother
from Kansas. He grew up mostly in Hawaii but spent some of his early
years in Indonesia.
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