AP - Monday, September 14, 2009 9:05:43 AM By PAUL SCHEMM
Photo By APHe argued that Washington -- even under Obama -- was under the thrall of "neoconservatives and the Israeli lobby." He said Obama and White House officials "act like Cheney and Bush and promote the previous policies of fear to market the interests of big companies" and pull Americans into wars that he said have bankrupted the United States.
If America reconsiders its alliance with Israel, he said, al-Qaida will respond on "sound and just bases."
The Saudi construction magnate's son-turned "holy warrior" has frequently sought to wrap al-Qaida in the Palestinian cause, seeking to draw support in the Arab world, where the issue is one of the public's top concerns.
However the Palestinians themselves -- even the militant Hamas organization -- have distanced themselves from al-Qaida and cracked down on those espousing a similar extremist ideology inside the Gaza Strip.
The short message was in sharp contrast to others issued around the Sept. 11 anniversary. In 2007, al-Qaida marked the anniversary with multiple videos by several of its leaders, including bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahri. Just last year, it issued a massive 90-minute opus summing up seven years of struggle around the world.
Evan Kohlman, a terrorism expert at globalterroralert.com, said al-Qaida appears to have been unable to come up with a way to confront the popularity of the new U.S. president. Obama has pursued a policy of seeking better ties with Arabs and Muslims, giving a landmark speech in Cairo in June, moving to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and taking a somewhat harder stance on Israel in the peace process.
"I would have thought for Sept. 11 he could have said something more ground breaking and significant," said Kohlman.
