("Al Qaeda No. 2") New Zawahiri Video Released

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

Al Qaeda No. 2 Acknowledges Death of Group's Chemical Warfare Expert

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri acknowledges the death of one of the group's top experts on chemical and biological warfare, and laments the "oppression" of Americans and the "injustice" of the Pakistani government in a new video released on the internet today.

In the video, Zawahiri refers to Abu Khabab al-Masri, an Egyptian chemist who ran Al Qaeda's top training base in Afghanistan and was killed in a missile strike in July in Pakistan.

Terrorism experts say the strike was probably a U.S. operation. "It was likely an unmanned aerial vehicle that dropped the bomb," said Christine Fair, a terrorism analyst at RAND Corporation.

Zawahiri said in the video that al-Masri fulfilled his desire to carry out a "martyrdom mission," arranged by his cohorts. Experts, however, said that as a 55-year old chemist, he was an unlikely candidate for a suicide mission, which are usually carried out by younger mujahideen.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5634250&page=1

[global1]

1. Prelude To An October Surprise Maybe.......nt

[biermeister]

4. yes, afterall it is that time of year

[dbonds]

2. Zawahiri is the #2 that we really should concentrate on capturing

I use #2 loosely, he probably is more of the real leader than Bin Ladin.

[seemslikeadream]

3. Well that will take the wind out Obama's announcement tonight

[amyrose2712]

9. sometimes i wonder..

if thats the plan...

[951-Riverside]

5. Right on cue n/t

[Newsjock]

6. And look which U.S. news organization is the only major one to have this report so far

ABC News. Color me shocked.

Be afraid, citizens!

[crimsonblue]

7. hasn't this guy already been killed twice?

n/t

[Recursion]

14. No, but *co assumes you'll confuse Zawahiri and Zarqawi

Zawahiri was Bin Ladin's chief rival, who wanted to incorporate their cosa nostra into the Muslim Brotherhood rather than make a new crew dedicated to striking the far enemy. Bin Ladin won and Zawahiri has been toeing the line ever since. I'm not convinced he couldn't be turned, though.

[damntexdem]

8. How many times has Zawahiri been killed?

It's so hard to keep up with how many times each Al Qaida leader has been killed.

[Recursion]

15. That's Zarqawi

We thought we got Zarqawi once, were wrong, and then blew him up IIRC with most of his family. The Zarqawi story needs its own book and can't fit here, but it was as textbook a case as I can think of of the US driving a potential ally into Al Qaeda's hands.

Zawahiri, OTOH, is an Egyptian doctor who was implicated in Sadat's assassination, fought with Bin Ladin over the direction of the next generation of jihadism, and after losing became a real toe-the-line-er for striking the Far Enemy (aka us).

[miles 2 go]

10. lol I thought this was going to be a joke about McCains houses

Like they were going to report one in a cave in Tora Bora or something stupid like that.

[DCKit]

11. Teh number of #2's boggles the mind

Teh payroll alone....

[bulloney]

12. Is this dude #2 in the AP or the Coaches' Poll?

Al quaeda has more #2 than a feedlot full of steers with diarrhea!

[awoke_in_2003]

13. There is only one true No. 2

and we should all watch out for him: