Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites.
The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policies. Ayman al-Zawahri said in the message, which appeared on militant Web sites, that Obama is "the direct opposite of honorable black Americans" like Malcolm X, the 1960s African-American rights leader.
In al-Qaida's first response to Obama's victory, al-Zawahri also called the president-elect — along with secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice — "house Negroes."
Speaking in Arabic, al-Zawahri uses the term "abeed al-beit," which literally translates as "house slaves." But al-Qaida supplied English subtitles of his speech that included the translation as "house Negroes."
This report observes that, "The audio plays over still pictures of al-Zawahri, Malcolm X praying, and Obama with Jewish leaders."
For some reason, this whole "Obama is the tool of the Jews" line put forward by Al Qaeda does remind me of this:
Also, to those people who insisted during the campaign that Obama was actually a secret radical Muslim -- does this refute that charge or does it simply show the cunning, complex web weaved by radical Islam?
Question to readers: to Americans, this kind of rhetorical thrust will seem pretty laughable. Will it also play that way abroad?
Dear Dan, I just stumbled upon your blog and found the article interesting. I myself am not an American citizen but a European instead. Claims of Obama being a radical muslim are laughed upon by me, everyone I know and probably most Europeans in general (and I hope/believe most Americans as well). Moreover, a statement like that from al-Zawahri could have been expected, they just look for anything they can use against him. If Obama had been caucasian, he'd be called the next GWB, now that he's black he's called a puppet. It's just a message to Zawahri's followers, and no others than those followers will put any value on it.
Hope I answered your 'question to readers' a bit. If you'd like to, feel free to visit my blog on International Relations as well;
I seem to recall non-radical-muslims calling Rice and Powell "house Negroes" shortly after their respective appointments.
Seems like the usual Al Quaeda tactic of repackaging what the domestic opposition's more extreme elements say whenever it's convenient, and hoping it plays well in Europe.
(E.G. in previous comments from AlQ about environmental issues seemingly cribbed from Progressive talking points, rather than anything AlQ's traditionally cared about.)
(I can't imagine they imagine it's very meaningful in the Arab world, but maybe there's some cultural thing there I'm missing.
And to make things clear, I don't think the domestic opposition is to blame for having their extreme subset's tropes repeated by AlQ, though I think that subset is to blame for having such insultingly stupid tropes in the first place, and the same charge can be leveled just as well against the domestic loony-right.
But it's been clear for a long time that at least someone in AlQ watches anti-Administration or anti-American sites to some extent, and appropriates any memes they think might be effective, usually ham-handedly.)
Well, politics is all local, so it's probably wrong to think of it in terms of 'world' opinion. The Mideast is a fairly racist place, and while they probably will initially hail Obama as 'one of them' because he was raised a Muslim, they're probably going to be able to convince themselves fairly easily that he's a tool of the Jews. Europe will likely be a harder sell, but if he doesn't change the Bush Mideast policies that Europeans seem to place the blame on for all the world's woes, he'll probably be seen a being a tool of the Jews there, as well. They'll likely put it more delicately, of course, and say his cabinet is being controlled by AIPAC or the neocons or something similar.
This may come as something of a shock to those who think that racial politics only work in the US, but the world outside is a pretty racist place...
Bush has never been seen as a tool for the Jews. People in Europe disliked America, but not disliked Americans. That's an important difference to make. Because of Bush's invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, which many Europeans opposed, and his (sorry to say it) not so clever appearance at times, that's what caused Europeans to dislike him. Obama is liked everywhere in Europe, for who he is and as long as he doesn't make the same mistakes as Bush did he'll be fine.
Way to go David. Exactly what has the Left done to make you think they're not patriotic? Win an election? Beat your candidate? I like how you took a discussion about ALQ's racism and used it to attack Americans. Real patriotic.
Sup-a-Coup, sorry, but you're wrong. You've never heard Europeans moaning about Bush's policies being shaped by neocons? When Europeans say neocons they mean Jews, and we all know Europeans tend to blame everything on the Jews. And Europe did at first support the invasion of Afghanistan, until the NATO treaty was invoked and they were expected to send troops. Well, guess what Obama wants? European troops for Afghanistan. Guess you won't like him then, eh?
And the whole distinction between disliking America and liking Americans is absolute horseshit. We are a democracy and like it or not (and I never voted for the guy), Bush was elected. That was the choice of the American people. Why would someone dislike the choice and not the chooser? It's nonsense.
Those that believe Obama is a radical muslim did not believe it based on reason, so I don't see why this would have any effect. Someone that wants to make everything equal for everyone is about as far away from Islam as you can get.
Let's by all means keep this civilized, I do not intend on upsetting people or anything. I myself live in The Netherlands (for now) and together with more European nations we ARE actually in Afghanistan supporting the efforts made there. Afghanistan wasn't strongly opposed here, Iraq was. I will not go further into the 'blaming the jews' part, as I simply do not believe people ever thought that way, at least not the people I know (but maybe I'm wrong, who knows?) Maybe Muslim immigrants who live in Europe think that way, but that's because they see America as the big supporter of Israel which is their sworn enemy.
Disliking Bush but not disliking Americans is a very distinct difference. I know it is a democracy and people voted for him, but see for yourself how GWB dropped in the ratings before 9/11, then recovered but reached an all time low just recently. Does that mean American's made a mistake in voting for him? I don't think so. However, the president is still a man who can shape his own policies (with enough congressional support obviously) and reacts to unpredicted events, and what Europeans didn't like is how he reacted after the 9/11 events and his rather undiplometic stance at several issues.
Let me know what you think about that, and feel free to discuss several issues at our blog btw, as it has more covered events on which I'd like to know your opinion. http://globalookout.blogspot.com
Laughable to Americans, probably. I doubt they're the intended audience.
Anyone doubting the strength of Arab racism toward Negroes need only review the history of the Darfur conflict, the one area of the world where Muslims have been most cruelly persecuted in the last ten years. To that persecution Arab governments and media responded with contemptuous indifference for years -- Darfur's victims were ethnically African, while Sudan's government was dominated by Arabs. Western efforts to aid victims of the Darfur genocide drew more criticism than praise, or help, from the Arab world, and in this al Qaeda's leadership reflected much Arab opinion (http://www.chequer-board.net/story/2006/4/23/172529/864).
The chatter against Obama has the same foundation, but is a seed falling on thinner soil because the Arab countries have more at stake in their relationship with the United States than they do with Darfuri refugees, something that is also true of countries elsewhere.
I found this comparison quite astute Dan. Love the Blues Brothers clip. But this demonstrates the problem with anyone painting Obama as anything other than a politician, with great ambition and little experience. As a strong supporter I feel still that his inexperience, especially in the world of international relations. Thus the rhetoric of both those who would call him a secret radical and those of the terrorists both seem so off point as to be laughable. This man (Obama) is turning politics on its head, and no one knows where to start. Well, the best place to start is getting someone with significant international experience in the white house. He now has at least two: Biden and Clinton, and gosh if that isn't a strong team. My two cents. Great article Cous'.
Daniel W. Drezner is professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
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