THE GUARDIAN: Anwar al-Awlaki uses online magazine to explain why the Middle East revolts are not a setback for al-QaidaSenior al-Qaida leaders have welcomed the uprisings in the Arab world in their first comprehensive statement on recent events, published in an internet magazine earlier this week. Anwar al-Awlaki – the radical preacher who grew up in America but is now a fugitive in Yemen – used a lengthy article in an English-language magazine called Inspire to explain why the revolts sweeping the Middle East were not a setback for al-Qaida.
"Our mujahideen brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and the rest of the Muslim world will get a chance to breathe again after three decades of suffocation," Awlaki wrote in an article entitled The Tsunami of Change.
The magazine also featured translated excerpts of earlier statements by senior figures in al-Qaida, such as deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri which had previously only been posted in obscure extremist forums.
Zawahiri calls on the "people of freedom and honour in Tunisia, Egypt and in each of the Islamic lands" not to let their recent efforts go to waste. His statement appears to have been written before the fall of President Hosni Mubarak nearly two months ago. » | Jason Burke | Thursday, March 31, 2011
