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Give al Qaeda an Inch...
...and they'll demand a yard.
From a brand new video detailing demands now in heavy rotation on as-Sahab (al Qaeda's "media wing":
[Adam Yehiye] Gadahn, who appeared in an al-Qaida video last September in which he called on Americans to convert to Islam, demanded that Bush remove all U.S. military and spies from Islamic countries, free all Muslims from U.S. prisons and end support for Israel. He said a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq alone would not satisify al-Qaida.
Due to translation problems, it was not fully clear if he had also demanded a daily large soda, calzone, and slice of pepperoni pizza from Pisano's, along with a canoli three times a week.
He continued: "Your failure to heed our demands ... means that you and your people will ... experience things which will make you forget all about the horrors of September 11th, Afghanistan and Iraq and Virginia Tech."
Without diminishing the pain and horror associated with the VT shootings, it's not clear to me that they stand on the world stage alongside the 9/11 attacks and ongoing carnage in Afghanistan and Iraq. More to the point, it's not clear what they have to do with the U.S. or Western engagement with Islamic extremists.
Not sure that it matters, but Gadahn is originally from California and is already wanted by the U.S. government; he's the first American to be charged with treason in over 50 years, says the AP.
Is it a sign of U.S. cultural decline that the nuts are now leaving California?
|5.30.07 @ 7:56AM|#
Is it a sign of U.S. cultural decline that the nuts are now
leaving California?
Build that border fence fast, dammit!! They're gettin loose!!
|5.30.07 @ 8:03AM|#
Is this the guy who told us "not to pass Go; do not collect
$200"? What a total schmuck.
So, if we don't all convert to Islam, we die? Yeah, that's
real reasonable. What a religious guy.
|5.30.07 @ 8:28AM|#
They certainly are doing all they can to spur the fight
on.
More on spokesmodel Adam Pearlman
Gadahn.
|5.30.07 @ 8:50AM|#
Without diminishing the pain and horror associated with the
VT shootings, it's not clear to me that they stand on the world
stage alongside the 9/11 attacks and ongoing carnage in Afghanistan
and Iraq. More to the point, it's not clear what they have to do
with the U.S. or Western engagement with Islamic
extremists.
It has nothing to do with the US/Islamic conflict, he's just saying
that if we don't bow to their demands we'll be subjected to
something much worse than the VT massacre.
|5.30.07 @ 8:57AM|#
Hmmm....we all convert to Islam and we release all the muslims
in our prisons, including all the new converts to Islam which would
mean empying our jails.
Also, if we all converted, would our military presence in the
middle east still be an offense?
Perhaps I'm over analyzing a nut.
|5.30.07 @ 9:00AM|#
We acknowledge your terms. You may return to your men and make
ready.
I know way to many people (pagans and agnostics) that would not be
"allowed" to convert. I suspect most people on this blog do as
well. If coexistence is not an option, so be it.
thoreau|5.30.07 @ 9:06AM|#
I've seen a few of his videos on youtube. I have some insight
into this guy, and I'm not terribly impressed by him. Nor am I
intimidated.
He's a loser.
I posted an open
letter to him on my blog last night.
|5.30.07 @ 9:18AM|#
Yep, a loser.
There's a tendency to build these people up into more than they
are, because of their destructive capacity and proclivity for
talking about really big issues, but they're just a cult,
attracting losers who can't make their own lives meaningful.
Guy Montag|5.30.07 @ 9:20AM|#
So, this is not what Ron Paul was talking about, or is it just not being mentioned?
Dave W.|5.30.07 @ 9:36AM|#
DC Sniper * 19 cities at once = no more guns.
Maybe that is the message this evil nutjob is trying to give us. I
hope they get him on trial and convict him of treason.
|5.30.07 @ 9:45AM|#
He mentioned VT because you have to refer to something topical on these videos to prove that your stuff is fresh.
M|5.30.07 @ 9:51AM|#
Help me out, guys. My question may be the same as Guy
Montag's:
If Adam Yehiye Gadahn has
called on Americans to convert to Islam, demanded that Bush
remove all U.S. military and spies from Islamic countries, free all
Muslims from U.S. prisons and end support for Israel
how would Ron Paul respond to the first and third conditions
listed? Or are we to believe that Adam Yehiye Gadahn doesn't speak
for those he claims to represent?
|5.30.07 @ 9:52AM|#
He mentioned VT because you have to refer to something
topical on these videos to prove that your stuff is
fresh.
Maybe he just has a crush on Debbie Schlussel and figured that the
fastest way to her heart was "prove" her Cho/Muslim
connection.
So, this is not what Ron Paul was talking about, or is it just
not being mentioned?
More likely just a random douchebag. Random douchebags can be
counted on to validate some wacky opinions.
M|5.30.07 @ 10:04AM|#
joe - how does that differ from W's response?
I apologize for surely missing something here.
RP says they're over here because we're over there. AYG says
they're over here because we're not them (in the sense of our not
being Muslim). Which of them, RP or AYG, is describing more
accurately why they're over here?
Sorry, I was taken by RP's clear and simple explanation, and now
I'm destabilized.
|5.30.07 @ 10:11AM|#
M,
I would imagine that, if they really wanted "world domination" of
their religion, they would insist other smaller countries convert
to Islam before going after the mighty U.S. However, this is not
the case. I guess we should ask why they are specifically targeting
us in these messages? The most likely reason being our presence in
their country, more so than "they hate us for our
freedoms"...etc.
|5.30.07 @ 10:14AM|#
That is just my outlook on things. I don't claim to be well informed or anything...
|5.30.07 @ 10:15AM|#
"joe - how does that differ from W's response?"
Because Paul's response doesn't include implementing a massive
government program to address the "root causes" of Gadahn's
unhappiness, which involves a large, expensive program that has
nothing whatsoever to do with al Qaeda.
My goodness, some of those slum-dwellers are criminals! I know -
let's knock down their neighborhoods and build Pruitt-Igoe!
BTW, exactly which sutras of the Koran require us to "remove all
U.S. military and spies from Muslim countries" and "end support for
Israel?"
Jennifer|5.30.07 @ 10:18AM|#
My goodness, some of those slum-dwellers are criminals! I
know - let's knock down their neighborhoods and build
Pruitt-Igoe!
Excellent idea! If we use eminent domain to take away their homes,
the property can be given to a wealthy corporation and property tax
revenues will increase.
M|5.30.07 @ 10:22AM|#
joe - I must be failing to ask my question clearly, so I'll sit back and just read. As to your question, which I'm inexcusably too lazy to research, koranic word-searches of "infidel" and "Jew" should turn up some morsels. They'll be in suras, however. Would they were sutras! ;-)
|5.30.07 @ 10:26AM|#
The VT thing is just to prove to his followers that he's alive.
Just one way to deal with this guy.
"Leave the gun, take the canoli."
|5.30.07 @ 10:31AM|#
M | May 30, 2007, 10:16am | #
jimmyda - Then what AYG says is unrepresentative?
Unrepresentative of whom? al-Qaeda? Probably not. Muslims around
the world? Probably.
M|5.30.07 @ 10:33AM|#
jimmydageek - of al-Qaeda. AYG seems to disagree with RP about what they want.
Jennifer|5.30.07 @ 10:38AM|#
Still smarting, Jennifer?
I'm still embarrassed for you, if that's what you mean.
|5.30.07 @ 10:40AM|#
Still smarting, Jennifer?
Someone been picking on Jennifer? They better not! I might have to
release the mighty power of my smartass remarks! ;-)
|5.30.07 @ 10:42AM|#
Well, Jennifer, as long as I still loom large enough in your mind that you're compelled to interrupt dicussions with irrelevant comments just to poke at me, I'm happy.
thoreau|5.30.07 @ 10:44AM|#
There are some distinct questions to ask:
1) What do the losers claim to want?
2) What do they really want?
3) Why are they bugging us about it rather than somebody else?
edna|5.30.07 @ 10:44AM|#
it's a cheap and easy way for adam to get on tv. once you're on tv, you can get lots of babes. adam likes babes, and being a pudgy nerd who's not likely to play lead guitar in a hot band, this is his second best way.
highnumber|5.30.07 @ 10:47AM|#
M,
One of the reasons, according to Ron Paul, that we are a target is
our foreign policy. What these particular nutbags ask for has
nothing to with anything really. They are making these demands to
make some noise. They are saying "Look at us. We are important. We
are principled." The truth is that they are nutbags. We just happen
to be one of their favorite targets.
ed|5.30.07 @ 10:49AM|#
your people will ... experience things which will make you
forget all about the horrors of September 11th, Afghanistan and
Iraq
I can live with that. So he's going to abolish Fox News? Cool.
|5.30.07 @ 10:57AM|#
M | May 30, 2007, 10:33am | #
jimmydageek - of al-Qaeda. AYG seems to disagree with RP about what
they want.
At this point, I'm not sure that they (al-Qaeda) really even know
what they want. It seems as if they're making up the "terms",
irrational as they may be, as they go along. I believe the original
reasons/demands given by al-Qaeda for the 9/11 attacks did not
include "convert to Islam" as one of them.
|5.30.07 @ 10:58AM|#
About time Azzam the American put out a new video. Dude fucking rocks. Any chance he'll play Bonnaroo this year?
|5.30.07 @ 11:04AM|#
This tape combined with the article stating HS took the Syrian
musicians seriously back in 2004 but downplayed it in the media
means...what exactly?
We should be afraid to travel this summer? We should drive instead
of fly? We shouldn't homeschool our kids and raise goats for halal
delis? What?
Guy Montag|5.30.07 @ 11:09AM|#
David,
More likely just a random douchebag. Random douchebags can be
counted on to validate some wacky opinions.
I expect another "see I told you so" moment from Ron Paul soon. I
wonder if reason will cover it?
|5.30.07 @ 11:16AM|#
What sort of "I told you so" moment are you thinking of Guy? I'm really not sure what you're going for here. Are you trying to say that a single person who demands that Americans convert to Islam invalidates Rep. Paul's claims about blowback in the Middle East?
M|5.30.07 @ 11:19AM|#
Thank you Gentlemen and especially thank you David - the plot (for me) thickens.
Dave W.|5.30.07 @ 11:22AM|#
1) What do the losers claim to want?
Reclamation of Israel for the Palestinians. Propagation of
Islam.
2) What do they really want?
US to stop taking the oil for so cheap. US to stop putting in
puppet rulers in oil rich nations for the purpose of getting the
oil cheap.
3) Why are they bugging us about it rather than somebody
else?
Because the US is putting in the puppet rulers and getting the
cheap oil. Because people like you and me are consuming that cheap
oil in our cars, homes and offices. Because people like you and me
are better off than the people who are having the oil extracted out
from under them.
|5.30.07 @ 11:23AM|#
There are some distinct questions to ask:
Lemme add a few more, t:
(4) Where do the losers live?
(5) What kind of protection do the losers have?
(6) Will anyone miss them when they're dead?
|5.30.07 @ 11:26AM|#
However, this is not the case. I guess we should ask why
they are specifically targeting us in these messages?
Because they know we won't, no chance in hell, so they don't have
to worry about working themselves out of whatever mindset they've
justified to themselves.
Kinda like the reason why Sharpton will never admit things are
getting better even if he believes them to be. To do so would be to
render his life as he claims it as unnecessary. Just so nobody gets
irate, Sharpton does lack the overt violence factor thankfully, so
I'm not equating the two on the basis of threat, only on the basis
of making outlandish statements to ensure their future
necessity.
Grab whatever happiness facsimiles you can, Joe.
What'd I miss?
Chucklehead|5.30.07 @ 11:40AM|#
It's interesting to note that some people think we ought to take
this nutjob at his word and that it proves "they hate us for our
freedoms", yet one thread up, these same folks are mocking AlGore
as a self-aggrandizing fool for spouting his beliefs.
Or maybe not.
lunchstealer|5.30.07 @ 11:41AM|#
Is it a sign of U.S. cultural decline that the nuts are now
leaving California?
There's a reason I call the CA border the Manson/Nixon Line.
Seriously, though, nuts have always been one of California's
greatest exports, as well as imports. Just look at how many Golden
State nutjobs end up in Washington. Interestingly, they import nuts
from all over the world too. It's a big hub of commerce among the
several nuts.
|5.30.07 @ 11:54AM|#
Jennifer,
I don't get it. Pruitt-Igoe was a pure big-ticket, high concept
technocratic government housing project from the 1950s-1960s that,
with Cabrini-Green, defines the connotaions of the term "the
projects". Wealthy corporations don't come into it any further than
typical large project contract graft.
|5.30.07 @ 12:55PM|#
This guy's video was on the news this morning. My wife wandered into the room and said, "Who's the dungeon master on television?"
Guy Montag|5.30.07 @ 1:03PM|#
What sort of "I told you so" moment are you thinking of Guy?
I'm really not sure what you're going for here. Are you trying to
say that a single person who demands that Americans convert to
Islam invalidates Rep. Paul's claims about blowback in the Middle
East?
No, it is more like this single person contributing to Ron Paul's
"blowback" script.
edna|5.30.07 @ 1:29PM|#
dave, do you mean that chavez is a us puppet that we installed?
ahmadinnerjacket in iran? the sultan caboose of oman? al maktoom
and al nahayan in the uae? kaddafi? gordon brown? whoever is your
pm these days?
wow, we do seem to get around.
|5.30.07 @ 1:46PM|#
"""Is it a sign of U.S. cultural decline that the nuts are now
leaving California? """
Wasn't John Walker Lind from Cali?
Jennifer|5.30.07 @ 1:51PM|#
I don't get it. Pruitt-Igoe was a pure big-ticket, high
concept technocratic government [etc.]
Joe believes in allowing government in all its wisdom to use
eminent domain to confiscate property from undeserving owners and
hand it over to those deemed more worthy of owning it. And he's
spoken in favor of instances wherein the government decided to
knock down entire neighborhoods, so when he mentioned doing so here
I couldn't resist pointing out how his attitude changes depending
on the topic at hand.
In the context of this thread, I guess he thinks tearing down a
slum would be a bad thing. Other times, he speaks in favor of it.
I'm sure he will again, soon enough.
|5.30.07 @ 4:19PM|#
Oh no, not again.
J & j: do you have to do this? It's very tedious for the rest
of us.
|5.30.07 @ 5:09PM|#
No, lurker.
We don't.
As a matter of fact, I'd prefer not to.
I have this problem with people having old grudges.
Jennifer|5.30.07 @ 5:12PM|#
You ain't seen nothing yet, Lurker. Wait until the next time Joe feels cornered--that's when he starts whining about my sex life and pretending it has something to do with the matter at hand.
|5.30.07 @ 5:40PM|#
Seriously though, are you guys sure that screenshot's from the al-Qaeda video, and not a Weird Al Yankovic video?
|5.30.07 @ 6:17PM|#
Hmm.
Would each of you be willing to agree to decline responding
directly to the other's posts? Without treading any fine lines with
regard to the meaning of "directly?"
Beavis|5.30.07 @ 8:49PM|#
my sex life and pretending it has something to do with the
matter at hand
Heh. Heh-heh.
|5.30.07 @ 11:11PM|#
Dave W. wrote:
DC Sniper * 19 cities at once = no more guns.
More likely scenario is DC Sniper * 19 cities at once = no more
mosques. That would be too close to home for too many people, they
would start to strike back.
|5.31.07 @ 9:19AM|#
We can and should improve our foriegn policy, but there will still be some unreasonable people like Gadahn. It's a repeat of the conquistadors "reading Joshua to the trees". They wanted land and booty, but needed to justify the attack first to avoid guilt. The conquistadors read Joshua in Spanish to tribes during their first encounter. Since the tribes, who didn't speak Spanish, didn't convert right away, the conquistadors felt justified conquring them. Every culture's done this in one century or another. It was wrong then, and it's wrong when al-Qaeda does it now.
Russ 2000|5.31.07 @ 11:14AM|#
experience things which will make you forget all about the
horrors of September 11th, Afghanistan and Iraq and Virginia
Tech."
Get back to me when you promise to make me forget about how shitty
the Cubs have been for the last century.
|5.31.07 @ 11:19AM|#
Treason. Do you know how hard it is to prosecute someone for
treason? For historical reasons, treason is actually included in
the Constitution:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.
The killer is finding two witnesses to the "overt act" of treason
to testify. Of course, with torture, one could get the confession
in open court, which is why we're not supposed to use torture to
get confessions.
Russ 2000,
Just wait and see how bad they are in the 21st century.
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