When Osama bin Laden was killed, the leaders of several Arab parties and organizations described him as a martyr and a militant. However, he is a terrorist and his successor chosen by the military leadership of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is also a terrorist whose involvement in terror probably dates back to before bin Laden's involvement, while he seems more willing to walk the same path than his predecessor. Bin Laden started out as a mujahid against the Soviets in Afghanistan. His goal at the time was to drive out foreign forces from the Arabian Peninsula, or the land of the Two Holy Mosques. He only turned to terrorism when he started practicing it against everyone. As a result, al-Qaeda killed more Muslims than it killed ‘Jews and Crusaders'. Al-Zawahiri has been a terrorist ever since people heard his name for the first time. He was arrested following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat and was detained for three years. However, the charge against him was illegal possession of arms, as the investigators could not prove his connection to the plot to assassinate the Egyptian President. He then got out of prison and engaged in terrorist activities in Egypt through the Islamic Jihad group, which targeted foreign tourists, a cornerstone of Egypt's economy. Al-Zawahiri also assassinated officials or tried to, and sent mail bombs to Al-Hayat. Later, he left Egypt, and ended up with Osama bin Laden in 1998, the year in which the latter was accused of being behind the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, where the majority of victims were of the local populace and not Americans. When al-Zawahiri was orchestrating attacks to kill tourists in Egypt, he would claim that they were coming to Egypt to spread prostitution and AIDS. This was his explanation even when the Greek tourists who were killed on a bus, were all pensioners above the age of seventy, while their country Greece had always supported Egypt (For instance, the Greek harbormasters in Suez chose to stay, defying Britain and France, on the eve of the tripartite aggression of 1956). I found the terms prostitution, AIDS, usury and other scaremongering words present across five statements issued by al-Zawahiri between January and April this year, as he warned against foreigners and justified their murder. He also lies and attempts to ride the wave of Arab uprisings, and even gives the credit for them to al-Qaeda and its terrorism. Yet, Arab revolutions in every country, and specifically in Egypt, have known causes. Their only link to al-Qaeda and similar terrorist organizations is that these revolutions have invalidated the raison d'être for terrorism. Egypt's youths have proven that they can lead change by peaceful means, and without the need to kill Muslims along with foreigners, or the need to blatantly lie as al-Zawahiri does every day to justify terrorism. I want to say to all those who support al-Qaeda, whether with money or with arms, that they can never deny the fact that al-Qaeda killed much more Muslims than it killed from their enemies, and that al-Qaeda almost caused civil wars among Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere. I also want to say to them that they would be doing their religion and countries great service if they followed the example of Egypt's youths, and not that of terrorists like al-Zawahiri. With the youths' revolutions, al-Qaeda is supposed to have exhausted its raison d'être, and ran past its expiration date. However, al-Zawahiri is a professional terrorist, and he is more capable of organizing operations than bin Laden was, and more enthusiastic than his predecessor who was semi-retired when he was killed. There is no denying that al-Qaeda has considerable support in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and a great deal of sympathy in the Arab Peninsula and the Gulf. Al-Qaeda also receives regular financial support that the countries concerned must find the ways to halt, as this is a first and fundamental step to eliminate terrorism. Since I read that al-Zawahiri lacks the charisma that bin Laden had, I would not discount the possibility that he may orchestrate a large-scale attack or attacks to revive al-Qaeda, following the powerful blows it suffered in recent months, when after its founder was killed, several of its prominent leaders were also eliminated. Al-Zawahiri is much more intelligent than his predecessor, and more experienced in terrorism. For this reason, I am confident that catching him would be difficult, and that the Americans would not find him in a large home with his wives, servants and guests. [email protected]
