Al-Qaida No. 2 slams Obama for failing to stop IDF op in Gaza

Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader lashed out at President-elect Barack Obama in a new audio message Tuesday, accusing him of not doing anything to stop Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, according to an intelligence monitoring center.

The recording purportedly by Ayman al-Zawahiri was al-Qaida's first comments on the Gaza crisis since Israel launched its offensive against the Islamic militants of Hamas on Dec. 27.

In the comments, which were posted on a militant Web site and obtained by the SITE Monitoring Service, al-Zawahiri described Israel's actions in Gaza as a "crusade against Islam and Muslims" and called it "Obama's gift to Israel" before he takes office later this month.

"This is Obama whom the American machine of lies tried to portray as the rescuer who will change the policy of America," al-Zawahiri said, according to SITE. "He kills your brothers and sisters in Gaza mercilessly and without affection."

Al-Zawahiri, who is Egyptian, also criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, calling him a "traitor" for keeping Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip closed since Hamas seized power.

"At the time when Israeli planes drop their bombs from the air, he closes the borders with his forces so that the plan of the killing of believers in Gaza is fulfilled," al-Zawahiri said, according to SITE.

He urged Egyptians and Muslims around the world to pressure Mubarak into opening the border and to take a more active role in fighting Israel.

Thousands of people in cities worldwide have held mass street demonstrations to protest Israel's offensive, but al-Zawahiri said those were not enough.

"Fight the Zionist Crusader campaign," al-Zawahiri said, according to SITE. "Strike its interests everywhere you can reach them. Support and back your mujahedeen brothers and children against them."

The audio message was accompanied by a still photograph of the al-Qaida leader sitting with a gun in his lap.

The recording could not be immediately verified, but SITE said it was posted on Web sites commonly used by Islamic militants. The recording also carried the logo for al-Qaida's media production house, Al-Sahab.

Al-Zawahri on Tuesday called on all Muslims to attack Israeli and Western interests over Israel's 11-day offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Al-Zawahri's remarks were publicized just as a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said Tuesday that Al-Qaida's top leaders have been rendered ineffective by international anti-terrorist efforts.

Osama Bin Laden and Zawahri, believed to be holed up in the remote Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, have been reduced to little more than a media operation, Dell Dailey, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator, said in a breakfast meeting with reporters.

But Al-Qaida itself remains a threat owing to its regional affiliates and violent intentions, he said.

"We see al Qaeda, in a centralized role, [as being] totally controlled," Dailey said. "Bin Laden can't get an operational effort off the ground without it being detected ahead of time and being thwarted," he added. "Their ability to reach is nonexistent."

Al-Zawahri's call on Muslims to attack Israel and the West was not the first of its kind since the Gaza offensive began.

A Saudi Web site last week reported that a popular cleric has issued a fatwa urging Muslims to target Israeli interests everywhere, to avenge the attacks on the Gaza Strip.

The site, Rasid, posts news about Saudi Arabia's Shiite community and on Sunday said that Sheik Awadh al-Garni has issued a religious edict urging Muslims to strike anything that has a link to Israel, calling it a legitimate target for Muslims everywhere.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week also issued a religious decree to Muslims around the world, ordering them to defend Palestinians against Israel's attacks on Gaza, state television said.

"All Palestinian combatants and all the Islamic world's pious people are obliged to defend the defenseless women, children and people in Gaza in any way possible. Whoever is killed in this legitimate defense is considered a martyr," state television quoted Khamenei as saying in a statement.