When terrorists criticize terrorists

From Secrecy News:

AN ISLAMIST CRITIQUE OF AL QAIDA

The actions of al Qaida in its jihad against the United States
have measurably retarded the objectives that the organization
claims to pursue, as evidenced by the defeat of the Taliban
regime and continued U.S. military action in the region.

This assertion would be unremarkable, except that it is now
being advanced by leaders of the Egyptian Islamic Group,
al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya, which itself is designated by the U.S.
State Department as a terrorist organization.

The Islamist critique of al Qaida appears in a new book,
reviewed and excerpted this week in the London Arabic newspaper
Asharq al Awsat.

See "Egyptian Islamist Leaders Fault Al Qaida's Strategy,"
Asharq al Awsat, January 11-12, 2004, translated by the CIA's
Foreign Broadcast Information Service, here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ig_bk.htm

Comments

[Johnny]

Very interesting article and book.. to look closely as it might portrait the way Islamists think of Al-Qaida.. specially when they criticize it.. ..”These points contradict Al-Qa'idah's vision. Al-Qa'ida believes that jihad is the only correct response to face reality and gives precedence to the logic of defiance over the principle of calculations.” … and “what is the alternative?”..

[Doug Kenline]

Thank you very much for blogging for the people Pierre Omidyar. You are showing great leadership amongst your peers. You are a pioneer in a new phenomena that is changing the world.

5. Use the Internet to make government transparent.

The best government is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Good people will blog openly, honestly, and transparently for the people.

Please ask your Congressional Representative to begin blogging for the people today.

I believe you are a good person and it gives me hope for this world to see a man of your position blogging openly and honestly for the people.

Thank you very much.

Doug Kenline
Atlanta, Georiga

[Chad Williams]

There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal like a year ago that was based on some of the journals and laptops found in Afghanistan kept by some of the Al Qaeda people. Apparently its pretty disorganized. Osama is disliked by some, there's plenty of back-stabbing.

I think its important to understand how they are pretty disorganized, and how they work on a franchising model. Finding Osama tomorrow wouldn't necessarily shut down the organization. but its useful to look at them as an economic entity that "feeds" on p.r. wins (911) and public opinion. There are cheap, smart ways to fight them. Invading muslim countries probably isn't one of the ways.

[Bernd]

I remember the article in the Journal ... but I am afraid that is exactly the danger of this terrorist organization - that it can cause a severe threat to humanity even if it is disorganized.