On the eve of President Obama’s highly anticipated speech to the Muslim world, al Qaeda’s second-in-command issued an audio statement saying the president of the United States is not welcome in Egypt.
Obama is traveling to the Middle East in an effort to repair a damaged U.S. image and reset relations with the Islamic world. But the terrorist network’s deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, said those relations cannot be mended as long as the administration maintains its alliance with Israel. In a message called “Tyrants of Egypt and America’s agents welcome Obama” that was posted on Islamist Web sites, al-Zawahiri once again lashed out at the United States. Obama’s message to the Muslim world, he said, has already been delivered with his support for “Zionist aggression.” “The White House declared that Obama will send a message from Egypt to the Islamic world but they forget that his messages were already received when he visited the Western Wall and wore the Jewish yarmulke and when he prayed their prayers,” al-Zawahiri said in the 10-minute audio message. Al-Zawahiri said Obama had already made himself an enemy of Muslims by sending more soldiers to Afghanistan, ordering bombings in the tribal areas of Pakistan and administering a “bloody campaign against Muslims” in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. He said Obama’s message came through when “his administration continued to reject the appliance of the Geneva Conventions regarding Muslim prisoners in the crusade war against Islam that they call the war on terror.”
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“His bloody messages were received and they are still coming and they will not be obstructed either by the public relations campaigns, the shenanigan visits, or the articulate words,” al-Zawahiri said. Obama is to deliver a speech in Cairo on Thursday in an effort to reach out to Muslims and to open a dialogue.
