Hundreds of subscribers to jihadist websites are posting questions for al-Qaeda’s leadership at the invitation of Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s deputy.
”Individuals, agencies and all information media outlets” have been told they can question Egyptian-born Zawahiri in what is described as ”an open meeting” and get answers from mid-January. Zawahiri is assumed to be in hiding on the borders of Afghanistan or Pakistan.
Al-Sahab, al-Qaeda’s media arm, said Zawahiri would answer the questions ”as much as he is able and at the earliest possible occasion”. Questioners are asked to be ”brief and focused”. It did not say whether his answers would come in a written, video or audio tape form. The message appeared on sites that al-Sahab regularly uses for issuing statements.
Jihadi forums are accessible only to registered password holders but they are monitored by specialist organisations, some media and intelligence agencies.
”Members have been flooding the forums with questions,” said Adam Raisman of the Site institute in Washington. ”Many are asking to address the story that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, is a fictitious character.” Others concern the whereabouts and safety of other al-Qaeda operatives.
”This invitation is part of the ongoing propaganda war and is the first call of its kind to the media, but you have to bear in mind that Zawahiri will only answer questions that he wants,” Raisman said.
Zawahiri is the most prominent spokesperson for al-Qaeda, appearing in at least 16 videos and audio tapes this year, compared with four put out by Bin Laden. Al-Sahab produced more than 90 videos in 2007, more than the total for the three previous years, according to IntelCenter, an American counterterrorism monitoring organisation.
Zawahiri’s latest message, on Sunday, emphasised the importance of ”jihadi information media”, saying they were ”waging an extremely critical battle against the Crusader-Zionist enemy”. Information ”used to be the exclusive domain of … the official government media, and the … media which claim to be free and non-governmental”.
Zawahiri taunted Britain for its handover of Basra and warned tribal leaders in Iraq who are cooperating with the US military that they would lose ”both their religion and their life” when the US left the country.
He called the leaders ”treasonous … scum” and urged them to consider the fate of Abd al-Sattar Abu Risha, leader of the first of the tribal militias to join the US-led military campaign against al-Qaida in Iraq, who was killed by a car bomb this year. – Guardian Unlimited Â