[QUOTE]Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- The brother of al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri is proposing to mediate a peace deal between the West and Islamists.
In an exclusive interview with CNN, Mohamed al Zawahiri unveiled his proposal for the first time, saying he is in a unique position to help end the violence and that both sides need to make concessions.
As the al Qaeda leader's brother, he says they are ideologically inseparable, and that if anyone can talk his brother out of violence it's him.
He is like so many former prisoners I've met -- calm, collected, focused and utterly convinced by long held views examined, tested and re-forged in incarceration.
Mohamed al Zawahiri is not a physically imposing man. His long beard is shading from grey to white, his features and figure drawn. Ramadan is long over but he still fasts until the sun goes down.
Mohamed spent 14 years in Egyptian jail on charges including terrorism and involvement in the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat 1981. He denies the charges.
For five years he was in solitary confinement in a cell 180 cm by 180cm (6ft x 6ft) where, locked in with his own thoughts, he had plenty of time plan what to do when released.
That day came a few months ago in May. He wants peace, he says, between Muslims and non-Muslims and has written a proposal that outlines the terms.
He says he's offering to be an intermediary between Islamists and the United States and the west. "I don't represent a certain group. My role is a mediator between the West and them."
A source with direct knowledge of Egyptian government talks with jihadists in the Sinai says Zawahiri is helping negotiations. The source says Zawahiri has the respect of the Islamists and the trust of the new government.
Zawahiri says his offer puts him at risk from radical Islamists, but says he is not acting from weakness or for personal gain.
His six-page proposal offers a 10-year truce if the following terms are met. In brief they are:
[B]• U.S. and West to stop intervening in Muslim lands.
• U.S. to stop interfering in Muslim education.
• U.S. to end the war on Islam.
• U.S. to release all Islamist prisoners.
[/B]
The document also calls on Islamists to change their behavior too:
[B]• Stop attacks on Western and U.S. interests.
• Protect legitimate Western and U.S. interests in Muslim lands.
• Stop provoking the U.S. and the West.[/B]
Through his steely determination to get his voice heard and his message out it is hard to gauge how much hope Zawahiri is really investing in his initiative. Is he trying to get back in the jihadist spotlight he once occupied before his incarceration?
Back then he was military commander of Islamic Jihad that would later ally with al Qaeda. Back then he reportedly had disagreements with his brother about the way forward for the group. Then came his came his arrest, long before 911, picked up he says by Egyptian authorities in the United Arab Emirates.
He says he told his interrogators he could work a truce with Islamists but he says his jailers didn't want to know. "If this idea had succeed, September 11 would not have even happened in the first place. I hope this opportunity today is not wasted."
Osama bin Laden had a similar proposal in 2004, it was quickly followed a year later by the deadly 7/7 subway attack in London killing 52 people.
Zawahiri offers no guarantees that he has some quick fix. "This is a very tough mission. You have to be logical. If you want to live in peace then you must make others feel that they will live in peace."
He says his brother will listen to him, but admits he hasn't talked to him in long over a decade.
While he once had standing among his Islamist peers, the reach of his influence today is hard to judge; being connected by blood to one of the world's most wanted men only carries so much weight.
The cost, he says, of getting out of today's conflict must be paid. "We want to turn this page and forget the past."
It wouldn't be the first time the terms are unacceptably high.[/QUOTE]
[URL="http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/10/world/meast/zawahiri-peace-plan/index.html?hpt=hp_t3"]Source[/URL] Its a long shot, but at least we have something on the table.
So the Taliban and al-Queda now?
Something ain't right.
Well this is an interesting turn of events.
My theory is that AQ is heavily engaged in the Syria fiasco.
They can't fight against both Assad and the US, its too much for their organization.
nothing will happen
Can I have a source other than CNN?
Like, something that's not American left or right?
I don't trust biased sources.
"U.S. to end the war on Islam." lmao do you think, even if the US was in really in war with Islam, the US would acknowledge such a thing
From what I gathered, he thinks the lands are "Muslim lands." Bullshit, land doesn't belong to a religion.
[QUOTE=draugur;37622413]Can I have a source other than CNN?
Like, something that's not American left or right?
I don't trust biased sources.[/QUOTE]
CNN is trustworthy for these kinds of news articles.
I really hope this is true, and that the US Government doesn't go all "We don't negotiate with terrorists". He seems to have his head on straight, violence isn't the answer to solving differences, all it's done is make their entire religion look horrible and barbaric, and gotten many of their own and our own killed in a war over nothing but ideologies.
[QUOTE=draugur;37622413]Can I have a source other than CNN?
Like, something that's not American left or right?
I don't trust biased sources.[/QUOTE]
There's a video on the web page where he speaks for a while.
[QUOTE=Disotrtion;37622461]There's a video on the web page where he speaks for a while.[/QUOTE]
As long as it's his face, then we're ok. If there's one thing that film editing has taught me, you can make anyone say anything, as long as you have the B-roll to cover it.
[QUOTE=zombini;37622452]I really hope this is true, and that the US Government doesn't go all "We don't negotiate with terrorists". He seems to have his head on straight, violence isn't the answer to solving differences, all it's done is make their entire religion look horrible and barbaric, and gotten many of their own and our own killed in a war over nothing but ideologies.[/QUOTE]
oh my god could you imagine, they send a guy over to the white house on air saying we will begin the peace, and Obama and a bunch of other guys start beating the shit out of him on live tv and Bush comes out and says it
[editline]10th September 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Speedhax;37622435]From what I gathered, he thinks the lands are "Muslim lands." Bullshit, land doesn't belong to a religion.[/QUOTE]
meaning afgani or what ever -stan lands
War, war never changes.
[QUOTE=Errorproxy;37622607]War, war never changes.[/QUOTE]
Or does it?
[QUOTE=Errorproxy;37622607]War, war never changes.[/QUOTE]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcEyPlhr_HM[/media]
[QUOTE=Errorproxy;37622607]War, war never changes.[/QUOTE]
Stop posting pop philosophy you've heard through video games and start forming your own damn opinions.
[QUOTE=Errorproxy;37622607]War, war never changes.[/QUOTE]
Of course the essentials of war never change, because war has a fairly strict definition. It's like saying 1 + 1 = 2 never changes, it's completely bloody meaningless.
[editline]11th September 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=NoDachi;37622709]Stop posting pop philosophy you've heard through video games and start forming your own damn opinions.[/QUOTE]
~ only the dead
have seen the end of war ~
Am I missing something here?
I just said a statement.
Here we have a treaty but soon this or/and something else will arise. It's an endless cycle.
[QUOTE=NoDachi;37622709]Stop posting pop philosophy you've heard through video games and start forming your own damn opinions.[/QUOTE]
all he was doing was connecting a video game quote to a moment in history where it applies.
[QUOTE=Errorproxy;37622760]Am I missing something here?
I just said a statement.
Here we have a treaty but soon this or/and something else will arise. It's an endless cycle.[/QUOTE]
yeah thanks for the philosophy lesson, here i was thinking world peace was around the corner
Fair points, but
• U.S. to release all Islamist prisoners.
That is going to definitely be an issue. Generally, countries don't like releasing people who are experts at breaking their shit, and have proclaimed time and time again that they'll do so at any chance until said country is dead and gone.
[QUOTE=Zoran;37622776]all he was doing was connecting a video game quote to a moment in history where it applies.[/QUOTE]
But it doesn't.
It's not even about 'war'. It's about global terror, which believe me, [I]has[/I] changed war.
[editline]11th September 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Errorproxy;37622760]Am I missing something here?
I just said a statement.
Here we have a treaty but soon this or/and something else will arise. It's an endless cycle.[/QUOTE]
"[I]The Oxford Companion to Philosophy[/I], defines pseudo-philosophy as "deliberations that masquerade as philosophical but are inept, incompetent, deficient in intellectual seriousness, and reflective of an insufficient commitment to the pursuit of truth." Rescher adds that the term is particularly appropriate when applied to "those who use the resources of reason to substantiate the claim that rationality is unachievable in matters of inquiry."
[QUOTE=draugur;37622574]As long as it's his face, then we're ok. If there's one thing that film editing has taught me, you can make anyone say anything, as long as you have the B-roll to cover it.[/QUOTE]
hey guess what
everyone isn't out to get you
[QUOTE=supersnail11;37622997]hey guess what
everyone isn't out to get you[/QUOTE]
Hey guess what, I don't take every single fucking thing anyone says at face value. Because guess what? There's this strange ability people have called lying.
I say we kill every single one of the fuckers.
[QUOTE=kaine123;37623770]I say we kill every single one of the fuckers.[/QUOTE]
and people like this are why 9/11 is the worst event in american history and not just an attack
as long as muslim extremists like the taliban and al qaeda use their ideologies to justify enforcing their will on people within these 'muslim lands' i don't think there should be peace with them.
[editline]11th September 2012[/editline]
i mean, i don't support a war on a idea because that's just a war that will never end, but if i did support such a war i'd support it on the ideals of the taliban and al qaeda
[QUOTE]• U.S. and West to stop intervening in Muslim lands.
• U.S. to stop interfering in Muslim education.
• U.S. to end the war on Islam.
• U.S. to release all Islamist prisoners.[/QUOTE]
won't happen
[QUOTE]• Stop attacks on Western and U.S. interests.
• Protect legitimate Western and U.S. interests in Muslim lands.
• Stop provoking the U.S. and the West.[/QUOTE]
won't happen
good try guys
we're legally incapable of adhering to some of those demands though by international law lol
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