The Political Conundrum!

The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated a new Arabic-language audio recording from Al-Qaida Deputy Commander Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri released on December 1. During the recording, titled "The Death of Our Heroes and Betrayal of Our Rulers", al-Zawahiri hailed the recently-executed culprits behind the 2002 nightclub bombings on the island of Bali—who "did not change, did not substitute, and did not compromise an inch in their ideology and in their determination to perform jihad on behalf of Allah and to drive the enemies of Islam away from the lands of Islam. They knew the price, and they paid it willingly and did not spare anything in paying it." Zawahiri also strongly criticized conferences aimed at interreligious dialogue organized by the government of Saudi Arabia: "[The Saudis] are prepared to conduct discussions with anyone who the U.S. orders them to, but they are not prepared to approach their own people and the Muslims and have a discussion with them-like they discuss with the Jews, the Christians, and the servants of trees and stones." Interestingly, there is no apparent mention in the Zawahiri audio recording of the recent terrorist attacks in the city of Mumbai, India.

A translation of Dr. al-Zawahiri's audio recording can be downloaded from the NEFA Foundation website.