Throughout the year 2005, when Osama bin Laden maintained a strange silence,giving rise to strong rumours of incapacity or death, Ayman al-Zawahiri, hisNo.2 in Al Qaeda, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, reportedly the head of AlQaeda in Iraq, emerged as the main voices of Al Qaeda in its psychologicalwarfare directed at the Ummah and the rest of the world. al-Zawahiri hadthe benefit of the services of the Al Jazeera TV channel for disseminating someof his messages. Some other messages of his were made available through websites associated with Al Qaeda. The messages of Zarqawi were mostlyaccessible through the pro-Al Qaeda web sites.
bin Laden broke his long silence on January 19, 2006, with an audio messageaddressed to the American people in which he offered them a truce if theAmerican troops were withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan and warned of anotherterrorist strike in the US homeland if his truce offer was rejected. He hassubsequently come out with another audio message on April 23,2006, addressed tothe Ummah. It calls for a jihad in the Darfur region of the Sudan and talks forthe first time of a Crusader-Jewish-Hinduconspiracy against the Muslims and criticises Gen.Pervez Musharraf for allegedlyreducing support to the jihadis in India's Jammu and Kashmir. Both the messageswere disseminated by Al Jazeera.
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Despite the re-emergence of the voice of bin Laden in the air waves, al-Zawahiricontinues to dominate the propaganda war of Al Qaeda directed at the Ummah andthe rest of the world. He does not miss a single important occasion for theMuslims to give expression to his views and to make tall claims regarding thesuccesses being scored by the jihadis all over the world in general and in Iraqin particular. Security considerations do not inhibit him and Zarqawi from using video recordings for propaganda purposes. Why is bin Laden fighting shy of usingvideo messages--concerns over his security or a physical incapacity, which hewants to conceal from his followers? Difficult to say.
al-Zawahiri has almost become the chatter-box of al Qaeda. The frequency of hismessages and the rapidity of his responses to situations such as the failed USattempt to kill him through a Predator missile strike on January 13 last in theBajaur agency area of Pakistan and his use of the Internet as well as al Jazeerafor dissemination indicate his presence in an area with modern facilities forrecording and dissemination and the availability of expert assistance to him.Where bin Laden is located does not seem to enjoy such advantages.
As against the two messages of bin Laden, Zawahiri has come out with sixmessages so far this year as indicated below:
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13-4-06: A video message. Theme: Praises the insurgency in Iraq.
5-3-06: A video message.Theme: The Hamas should not recognise Israel.
30-1-06: A video message. Taunts the US for failing to kill him atBajaur.
21-1-06: An audio message. Theme: Praises the insurgency in Iraq.
"Your brethren in the information committee of the Mujahedeen'sConsultative Council are happy to present the first video of the emir of the al-QaedaOrganisation in the Land of Two Rivers, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi." An evidentpurpose of the video is to refute the speculation, caused by a recent statementof the Jordan-based son of the late Abdullah Azam, that due to unhappiness overZarqawi's action in organising terrorist strikes in Jordan last year, the Iraqiresistance fighters have taken over the political control of the resistancemovement, making Zarqawi only the head of its military wing. By describing himas the Amir of Al Qaeda in Iraq, the video seeks to convey a message to theIraqis that Zarqawi continues to be the over-all head of the resistance movementin Iraq--handling the political as well as the militaryaspects.
The video also seeks to dispel speculation regarding possible differencesbetween Zarqawi on the one side and bin Laden and Zawahiri on the other byshowing past visuals of bin Laden and describing him as 'Our Amir and leaderSheikh Osama."
It claims, inter alia, that the followers of Zarqawi have been able todevelop two missiles, each with a 40-kilometer (25-mile) range and a payload of50 kilograms (110 pounds). One of the missiles shown on the video hasQaeda 1 written on it. Another has the word Quds 1. Quds means Jerusalem inArabic. An insurgent shown on the video says it is capable of penetrating armorand that they plan to use it soon.
A third video made its appearance on the Internet on April 29, 2006. It showsSaudi Mohammad al-Qahtani, one of four Al Qaeda members who escaped from the USBagram airbase in Afghanistan last July, as saying: ""I call on thefighters who fought the Russians on this sacred ground to return to the country(Afghanistan) and to join up with Sheikh Osama bin Laden and theirbrothers." It is a call to the Arabs and other foreign Muslims,, who hadfought against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s, to return toAfghanistan to join the Taliban's jihad against the US-led coalition and theHamid Karzai Government.
15. The apparent aims of the renewed propaganda offensive are:
- To project bin Laden as still in charge of Al Qaeda's jihad world-wide and Zarqawi as in charge of Al Qaeda's operations in Iraq.
- To underline that Zarqawi continues to enjoy the confidence of bin Laden and the Sunni fighters in Iraq.
- To project the jihadis as on their way to victory in Iraq.
- To call for foreign volunteers to strengthen the operations of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
- To project India and the Hindus as the third component of the alleged conspiracy against the Muslims.
