al-Zawahri denounces Iraq elections

[ECH1969]

In a clear reference to Iraq's weekend balloting, a statement purportedly made by Osama bin Laden's top deputy says holy war, not "rigged elections," is the only path for reform in Islamic nations.

The written statement, said to have been the transcript of an audio taped recording of a speech by Al-Qaida No 2 Ayman al-Zawahri, first appeared on several Islamist Internet sites on Tuesday.

"Reform can't be achieved under governments installed by the (foreign) occupier through rigged elections conducted under the supervision of the United Nations and protected by B-52s and Apache helicopter rockets," al-Zawahri said. "There is no reform except through holy war."

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1226061,00050004.htm

[Turbineguy]

1. This al-Zahahri guy better watch it

he's beginning to sound like a Freeper

[xultar]

2. Well DAYUM can't those brown skinned towel heads be grateful for nothing?

/sarcasm

[geek tragedy]

3. What a surprise--a theocratic fascist doesn't like elections. News at 10.

[Cooley Hurd]

7. He might be theocratic, but he's not a fascist...

Fascism:
A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
or:
A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government

I point this out only because the RW has taken to calling him and bin Laden "fascists," when in reality the word fits the Bush admin to a tee...:hi:

[geek tragedy]

8. That's exactly what bin Ladenites want to establish. A horrible

incarnation of the caliphate.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. Right on cue

What time does the SOTU start?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Right before many thinking people take ill for no apparent reason.. eom

[thebigidea]

6. yeah, he's got such a great track record for his reforms via holy war

decades of failure... what a douchebag.

This guy bugs me a lot more than Bin Laden - he's much more of a deluded dreamer spinning revolutions on paper.

Come to think of it, he's pretty much OBL's Wolfowitz.

oh yeah, and why the hell do they always pull this routine:
"It was not immediately possible to authenticate the statement. A US intelligence official who was able to access the tape said on condition of anonymity that the voice is believed to be that of al-Zawahiri."

who the fuck are these audiotape authenticators? I suppose they have to make themselves feel useful. "uh yeah, it sounds like him... but uh, I can't be sure. uh, let me open the wav file here and pretend its something super-scientific."

Leaving aside the obvious conspiracy ha-has, why all this concern for authenticity? Has there been a flood of Zawahiri imposters or something?

[Igel]

10. They look at vowel formants and CV transitions, among other things.

Also fundamental frequencies. And energy distribution in fricatives. You can get a pretty good idea of the geometry of the vocal tract.

You also can put together a profile of idiosyncratic tonal contours and vowel/consonant peculiarities, if you have samples of the person.

It's called forensic phonetics. Not as good as DNA, but much better than nothing.

(This is in addition to having experts in the language check to see if it's consistent with prior speeches/tapes.)

[thebigidea]

11. yes, but do they fintoozle the elofosensic maladriptrastics?

yet despite all this high-falootin' tech, the end result is always the same: "they could not authenticate the tape, but high level sources believe it is... blah blah blah"

[Igel]

12. My point is that there are fairly reliable tools. Mostly they rule

out people; but there are some diagnostics for saying that a given person made a tape. It's used in court cases, and there are a bunch of journal articles (and even a few textbooks) written on it.

[thebigidea]

13. i'm not quibbling with the tech, which I am vaguely familiar with

I'm wondering why the constant caveats about authenticity - I mean, if he says he's Zawahiri and talks like Zawahiri, he's probably Zawahiri.

have there been a rash of phony Zawahiri tapes to warrant skepticism about the pr releases of a raving douchebag?

[Igel]

14. Probably not. But there are so many groups out there trying

to be good Islamic Fundamentalist Death Squads that I'm thinking they just want to be sure.

There have also been a few other spokesman for various and sundry Death Squads. But you're right, it seems like the newspapers are being a bit over-cautious.

I'd want to be sure and put it through whatever acoustic software they have. But then again, this is the CIA we're talking about, which has given "good enough for government work" a worse meaning than it ever had before.

[Cocoa]

9. he also came out against Bush's social security plan

and endorsed Howard Dean for DNC chair.