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Fri. Nov 18, 2005

Still Killing the Infidels, One Muslim at a Time

Gosh, was it really February, 2004, that I suggested that Al Qaeda’s new slogan should be “Al Qaeda, killing the infidels one Muslim at a time”? 21 months later, it’s far more true than it was then. But now we’re getting some rumbles of denial.

The head of al-Qaeda in Iraq said in an internet audiotape that the Muslim wedding parties the group bombed last week in Amman were not its target.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said the target was a meeting of intelligence agencies, but a roof collapsed on the wedding parties. Suicide bombers killed 59 people in three Amman hotels, provoking outrage in Jordan, despite the high level of support Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi previously enjoyed in his homeland. Most of the victims were Muslim Jordanians.

In a message posted on an Islamist website often used by insurgent groups in Iraq, al-Zarqawi struck a rare defensive tone, insisting that al-Qaeda had checked the hotels and found they were “nests” of US, Israeli and Jordanian spies.

Times Online: Al-Qaeda ‘sorry’ for Muslim dead

“A rare defensive tone”? To be specific, he said, “People of Jordan, we did not undertake to blow up any wedding parties. For those Muslims who were killed, we ask God to show them mercy, for they were not targets. We did not and will not think for one moment to target them even if they were people of immorality and debauchery.”

You can practically hear the chip on his shoulder. Even though you are immoral sluts and useless as Muslims, we did not and will not target you. But we may have to “behead King Abdullah II.” And when you hear that “suicide bombers killed at least 90 worshipers Friday inside two Shiite Muslim mosques,” on the same day we tell you we don’t target Muslims, know that we were going after the hundreds of US troops that are stationed inside those mosques every day.

This sounds a bit like the typical talk we get out of both sides of the mouth these days in DC. The type that happens when someone is caught or suspected of doing something, it creates an uproar in the public, and they do the PR backpedal, claiming they really aren’t doing what you’re lying eyes are telling you.

In al-Zarqawi’s case, “There have been angry demonstrations across Jordan, with tens of thousands rallying in Amman yesterday to voice their disgust at al-Zarqawi. A poll published this week showed that two thirds of Jordanians had changed their views of al-Qaeda for the worse.”

If you kill 59 people in your own native country, they tend to turn on you. When they then hear you claim you do not target Muslims, they see you as a liar. And in a world filled with claims about lying, I think the consensus on al-Zarqawi’s lack of credibility is strong.