The Allmendinger Chronicles

From HuffingtonPost.com

CAIRO — Al-Qaida on Tuesday released a new 106-minute long video predicting President Barack Obama’s downfall at the hands of the Muslim world.

The Arabic-language video, entitled “The West and the Dark Tunnel,” is part of series of messages by the organization marking the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Bin Laden released a short message of his own on Sept. 14.

Like similar long messages on previous anniversaries, it featured testimony from several leading al-Qaida figures intercut with news footage from the past year.

As in the past, al-Qaida attempted to conflate Obama with his predecessor, George W. Bush, who was widely disliked by Muslims for his invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Many analysts believe that al-Qaida has been alarmed by Obama’s comparative popularity in the Middle East, especially following his landmark speech to the Muslim world in Cairo in June.

“America has come in a new, hypocritical face. Smiling at us, but stabbing us with the same dagger that Bush used,” said Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri in the message.

“God willing, your end will be at the hands of the Muslim nation, so that the world and history will be free of your crimes and lies,” he said addressing Obama at the end of the two-part video.

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in honor of the fall season!  It will return to normal in November!

The Criminal Complaint for Najibullah Zazi, the 24 year old arrested and charged with making false statements to investigators probing an alleged plot to detonate a bomb inside the U.S has been added to the ‘Documents Library’ page.

Al-Qaeda’s recent attempt on the life of a Saudi royal suggests a change in tactics for an organization which has suffered substantial losses in the past few years. 23-year-old Abdullah Hassan Tali Asiri, a would-be suicide bomber listed on Saudi security’s list of most-wanted jihadis, called his target, Prince Muhammad bin Nayif, beforehand to say he wanted to return from Yemen to surrender (Saudi Press Agency, August 31). Bin Nayif is the Deputy Minister of the Interior for Security Affairs and has been in charge of the Saudi counterterrorism campaign since clashes between authorities and Saudi jihadis began in 2003.

Asiri called the prince to say that he and some of his colleagues wanted to turn themselves in, as the prince is well-known for his support of efforts to rehabilitate former jihadis. Bin Nayif has previously coordinated with influential Saudi shaykhs, such as Safar al-Hawali, who helped arrange the surrender of a number of wanted Saudi jihadis.

Asiri is believed to have been recruited to al-Qaeda by his brother Ibrahim, who is known by the alias “Abu Saleh” and also appears on the most wanted list (Saudi Gazette, August 31). In the evening of August 27, Asiri detonated his explosives moments after he reached the prince’s residence, where the prince was receiving guests at the end of the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (a Saudi custom). Asiri was killed by the bomb but bin Nayef, sitting just a meter away, suffered only superficial injury. Al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack (al-Fajr Media Center, August 29). Saudi and other Arab media questioned how the assassin, who was supposedly searched four times before the detonation, managed to carry out the attack. Bin Nayif, who is known to have welcomed penitent militants into his home before, reportedly said afterwards that he had ordered his men not to search his would-be assassin in the belief that humaneness and magnanimity were key in reforming ex-terrorists (Al-Quds al-Arabi, September 2; Al-Sharq al-Awsat, August 31).

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LONDON, England (CNN) — British Transport Police said Saturday they are investigating after a man left a bag containing a corrosive substance at a train station outside London.

The man left the bag in the booking hall of Kingston train station Friday afternoon, said a police spokesman, who could not be named in line with policy.

A black liquid leaked from the bag and had a “corrosive effect on the soles of somebody’s shoes” as they walked by, the spokesman said.

The man who left the bag ran off when he was told it was leaking, according to the spokesman.

Authorities have since identified the liquid as a cleaning fluid, the spokesman said.

The incident briefly shut down the train station along the Thames River just southwest of London. The station reopened hours later, the spokesman said.

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