Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- The Egyptian Islamist movement Jamaat Islamiya has called for Al Qaeda to adopt a four-month truce and to cease any operations against the United States, the West and other countries, as they await “the fair, practical stances of the new American president.” Its request came shortly after Al Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al Libi urged for attacks to be launched on Western states, especially the US and Britain, to avenge Israel’s attacks on Gaza and for Britain’s role in supporting the establishment of a homeland for the Jews in 1948.
Sheikh Najih Ibrahim, a theorist and leading figure of the Jamaat Islamiya group in Egypt told Asharq Al-Awsat that the movement fears that Al Qaeda may carry out operations and launch attacks in the upcoming period and as a result, turn President Barack Obama into “another George W. Bush.” The group fears that Obama would change his position regarding withdrawing from Afghanistan and Iraq and shutting down the US prison at Guantanamo Bay whereas America under George W. Bush occupied Afghanistan and Iraq and detained Islamists in Guantanamo Bay in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
“Whether or not Libi called for attacks to be launched against Britain, we fear that Al Qaeda could carry out operations that would turn Obama into another George W. Bush and turn something positive into something negative. No one will benefit from this except Israel,” said Shiekh Najih Ibrahim.
A repeat of Al Qaeda attacks “will be a victory for Israel and those who share the opinion of George W. Bush that this violence is a characteristic of Islam. We, the Jamaat Islamiya group, want the best for Islam and Muslims and we have hope that the Al Qaeda of today is different to the Al Qaeda of 9/11,” he added.
The statement signed by Sheikh Essam Derbala, a prominent leader of the Egyptian Jamaat Islamiya addressed the Al Qaeda organization saying, “Tell them (Western states) without fear: We will not start fighting except in self-defense over the next four months as we wait for Obama’s fair, practical stances. We welcome permanent peace based on respect for the Islamic identity and the right of our people to live independently according to their creed and religious law, based on common interest with America and the world and for the sake of humankind away from the clash of civilizations.”
The statement addressed “all Al Qaeda supporters, whether they are part of the movement or just agree with its ideology, but especially the leaders of the organization in all places, and particularly Sheikh Osama Bin Laden and Sheikh Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri.”
The statement referred to the new American president’s desire to follow a new direction. “Addressing the Islamic world, Obama said we are in need of a new direction. So he is calling for adopting a new approach that differs to the blocked and irrational path that Bush followed.”
Derbala stated that the new president’s approach is based on common interests and mutual respect and that Obama had said that American generations faced communism and fascism not just with missiles and tanks but with alliances and with dialogue. His approach carried a peaceful message to the world and he said that he would extend his hand to those who extend their hands in peace and announced his intention to withdraw American forces from Iraq in an easy way and would try to establish peace, which is difficult to achieve, in Afghanistan.
Derbala added, “These positions – Obama announcing a diplomatic approach towards Iran and its nuclear file, his willingness to close Guantanamo Bay, and his request that judges suspend trials for four months in Guantanamo Bay – show that there is a new opportunity that must be explored and not thrown away before making sure that it is just a mirage.”
Derbala called upon the Al Qaeda leadership to extend its hand in peace. He said, “What harm would it cause if you told Obama what you want and you said: we extend our hand in peace based on common interests and achieving good for humankind. We extend our hand for the sake of peace and achieving independence for Iraq and Afghanistan. We extend our hand for the sake of peace and realizing the hopes of our Islamic nations so that we can live under Islamic rule in accordance with our creed based on the rules of Sharia that we cherish and defend.”
According to the Jamaat Islamiya statement, there were other conditions for peace between the Al Qaeda organization and the United States: “the fair demands of our Ummah in Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya, Bosnia and Kosovo,” and “the release of prisoners such as Dr Omar Abdul Rahman,” and that “America abandons it policy of double standards with regards to the Islamic world and its bias towards Israel,” as well it “[working towards] achieving communication between civilizations and not clashes.”
Excerpted from: http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=15497
Recognizing Al Qaeda?
25/01/2009
By Tariq Alhomayed
In his inauguration speech, US President Barack Obama extended his hand to the Islamic world and greeted it. He spent his first day in the White House making historical decisions; the most important of which was the decision to shut down the US prison at Guantanamo Bay and the network of American CIA ghost prisons.
Obama called Middle East leaders and spoke to them about the issues that concern the Arab and Islamic world, demonstrating his determination to keep an eye on these issues from day one of his presidency. Moreover, Washington’s special envoys were appointed for the Middle East and for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Obama’s decisions and speeches, which express good intention towards our region, received diverse responses. The oddest response came from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya who called for Washington to review its approach towards Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and to give him a chance to reform. Gaddafi also called for engaging in a dialogue with Bin Laden to understand his motives.
The Jamaat Islamiya group also made a suggestion, for Al Qaeda however and not Washington. It called for the Al Qaeda organization to announce a four-month truce with the West and to give Obama a chance in order to verify the new US president’s fair stances.
It is strange that Jamaat Islamiya in Egypt asked Al Qaeda not to turn Obama into another George W. Bush! Does this mean that we have recognized Al Qaeda? Does Jamaat Islamiya’s request mean that if Obama does not act in a way that satisfies Al Qaeda then the terrorist organization can do what it wants?
With regards to dialogue with Al Qaeda, who would be authorized to represent the terrorist organization? What I fear most is that one of the states yearning for a regional or international role would come out and call for a reconciliation conference with Al Qaeda to be held on its territory!
What is frustrating about this proposal is that it shows that we have not yet fully understood the danger of Al Qaeda’s ideology and the essence of its goals despite all the crimes that the terrorist organization has committed not only in West but also in our Arab states over the past eight years.
The biggest mistake that we are making is to believe that a mere change of heart from an Al Qaeda member means that we have weakened the organization. Let us say for the sake of argument that Osama Bin Laden came out and said that he regretted everything that he has done to mankind and the Islamic religion (and this is very unlikely), would this mean the end of Al Qaeda? Of course not. Just as the saying goes, the stream will find its way no matter what. Someone will emerge who will outbid the Al Qaeda leader and declare that Bin Laden no longer represents them. They will surpass him with ease and will seek to eliminate him as well.
The danger of Al Qaeda does not lie in its members but in its ideology. Calling for a dialogue with Al Qaeda alone is evidence of the extent of our shortsightedness and our failure to understand what is more of a threat to us than to the West. What we need is to tackle the threat posed by Al Qaeda’s ideology rather than Al Qaeda members.
What we need is to direct all our energy towards eliminating this ideology and to fight ideology with ideology. We must not show it any tolerance let alone hint at giving it another chance to exist; this would mean that we are giving such extremist thinking legitimacy and the opportunity to exist once again.
Interaction with Washington and Obama is important, especially with regards to what concerns us. But if our reactions are going to resemble those that are mentioned above, then this will be frustrating, not for Washington, but for us, the people of the region who are hoping for a better future.
Excerpted from: http://asharqalawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=15495
Need more?
CBS Reports:
November 24, 2008
Jamaa Islamiya Hopes Obama Would Release The Blind Sheikh
(al Jama’a al Islamiya )
From:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/11/24/monitor/printable4631002.shtml
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"Barack Obama was working with Arab intermediaries to establish an unofficial dialogue with Al Qaida long before his election."
Question: If this is true isn't this illegal?
Answer: If this is true, he commited a crime ..
18 U.S.C. Section 953
Sec. 953. Private correspondence with foreign governments
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply, himself or his agent, to any foreign government or the agents thereof for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.
tx eggman
Conducting Foreign Relations Without Authority: The Logan Act http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33265.pdf
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Robert Malley could be Obama's Pre-election Mouthpiece to Al Qaida.
Robert Malley is the hand-picked foreign adviser to potential presidential nominee Barack Hussein Obama.
Robert Malley advocates negotiations with Hamas and providing international assistance to the terrorist group.
Malley has written numerous opinion articles, many of them co-written with a former adviser to the mass murderer Yasser Arafat, petitioning for “dialogue” with Hamas and blasting Israel for harming “the Palestinian cause”.
Malley also wrote a an article in the NY Times blaming Israel for the collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at Camp David in 2000, while ignoring the fact that Arafat turned down a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and eastern sections of Jerusalem and instead chose to launch a Muslim terrorist campaign against the legitimate and sovereign Jewish state.
In February 2006, after Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament, Malley wrote an op-ed for the Baltimore Sun advocating international aid to the terror group’s newly formed government.
Robert Malley was a special assistant to Clinton for Arab-Israeli affairs and was a member of the U.S. peace team during the Camp David negotiations.
He currently serves as director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the International Crisis Group, which is partially funded by billionaire and Obama campaign contributor George Soros, who also serves on the board of the Crisis Group.
Ed Lasky, a contributor to the American Thinker blog, calls Malley a “[Palestinian] propagandist” who, he charged, bends “the truth to serve an agenda that is marked by anti-Israel bias. … Malley’s writings strike me as being akin to propaganda.”
Lasky points out Malley’s father, Simon Malley, was a personal friend of Arafat and wrote in support of numerous struggles against Western countries. Simon Malley founded Afrique Asie, a French magazine that was known for its advocacy for “liberation” struggles throughout the world, including the Palestinian cause.
Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, called Simon Malley a “sympathizer” of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which, headed by Arafat, carried out numerous terror attacks.
Read more about Barack Hussein Obama’s hand-picked terrorist-loving adviser, here.