Al-Qaida deputy insults Obama

Ayman al-Zawhri says Barack Obama is "the direct opposite of honorable black Americans" like Malcolm X.

Published November 19, 2008 3:10PM (EST)

Don't tell some of his detractors -- at this point, they probably can't handle the shock -- but it turns out that al-Qaida isn't exactly enthralled with Barack Obama.

In a new audio message, in fact, Ayman al-Zawhri, Osama bin Laden's No. 2, has some harsh things to say about the president-elect. Obama is "the direct opposite of honorable black Americans" like Malcolm X, al-Zawhri says in the tape, according to the Associated Press.

Al-Zawhri also uses an old racial slur to describe Obama, as well as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, calling them "house negroes."

Additionally, the al-Qaida No. 2 called the election results an "admission of defeat in Iraq" and said, "America has put on a new face, but its heart full of hate, mind drowning in greed, and spirit which spreads evil, murder, repression and despotism continue to be the same as always."


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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