The Advice of One Concerned

Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second individual in command of al-Qaeda, presents a speech titled, "The Advice of One Concerned", in a one-hour and thirty-five minute video produced by the multimedia wing of as-Sahab. The video has not yet been released and was obtained by the SITE Intelligence Group. Zawahiri is dressed in white, three images on a screen to his back, and English-subtitles are provided for the spoken Arabic. Touching upon a variety of issues pertinent to the jihadi arena and Muslims, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Palestine, Zawahiri repeats his call for unification of Mujahideen and total support among Muslim populations for jihad, but his observations go into considerable depth by utilizing footage from a variety of speakers to dovetail his arguments. For example, in discussing Saudi Arabia and the malignancy of the Saudi Royal Family in regard to that country, Iraq, and the entire region, Zawahiri uses excerpts from Bob Woodward's book, Plan of Attack, to portray the Kingdom's culpability in the War in Iraq, its agenda, and collaboration with the West at the expense of Muslims. A PBS Frontline documentary and words from Prince Bandar bin Sultan and Dr. Sa'ad al-Faqih also serve this purpose, highlighting corruption, particularly in the Yamamah arms deal, and the socioeconomic gap between classes in Saudi Arabia.

Zawahiri also encourages greater support for the Islamic State of Iraq despite it lacking "necessary qualifications", courts Kurds to join jihad, and lauds Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the deceased Emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq, formerly Tawhid Wal Jihad, for his opening of a path for greater unity in the ranks of Mujahideen by being among the first to pledge to Usama bin Laden and join al-Qaeda. He adds that other groups have also joined the organization, though they prefered that this news not yet be announced, but the declarations will come soon. Iraq is also the launchpad from which Zawahiri launches his diatribe against Saudi Arabia, using aforementioned evidence to warn that Iraq will fall if the Saudis gain significant influence in its politics.

During the course of his segments Zawahiri continually laments the ceding of four-fifths of Palestine, and again voices his anger at Hamas for entering into negotiations and abandoning Shari'a, and warns it to not fall into the same trap as former PLO leader, Yassir Arafat, giving up everything before allegedly being poisoned. Zawahiri also attacks the Egyptian regime and its prisons, and questions the Muslim Brotherhood's position on peace initiatives and acting as its progency, Hamas, has done in regard to Palestine.

Concerning al-Qaeda, Zawahiri points to a second half of a long-term plan, consisting of using Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia as camps for jihadi preparation and training. Other words for al-Qaeda come from footage excerpted from conference in which Dr. Saud al-Hashimi cites Thomas Friedman and the concept of globalization, believing that al-Qaeda has utilized the tools in the globalized world to its advantage; and from Abd al-Bari Atwan, editor-in chief of the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, who at the time of the interview argues that al-Qaeda has not weakened, but grown stronger since the attacks on September 11, 2001, and agrees with the assertion that the organization and bin Laden have utilized globalization and the Internet to its advantage.

Source: as-Sahab Media, SITE Institute

Kavkaz Center