I think this to be huge...

... and yet, unsurprisingly, it's not getting much attention in the wider press:

One of Al Qaeda's senior theologians is calling on his followers to end their military jihad and saying the attacks of September 11, 2001, were a "catastrophe for all Muslims."

In a serialized manifesto written from prison in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif is blasting Osama bin Laden for deceiving the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and for insulting the Prophet Muhammad by comparing the September 11 attacks to the early raids of the Ansar warriors. The lapsed jihadist even calls for the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and his old comrade Ayman al-Zawahri.

The disclosures from Mr. Sharif, also known as Dr. Fadl and Abd al-Qadir ibn Abd al-Aziz, have already opened a rift at the highest levels of Al Qaeda. The group's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, a former associate of the defecting theologian in Egypt, personally mocked him last month in a video, remarking that he was unaware Egyptian prisons had fax machines. Meanwhile, leading Western analysts are saying the defection of Mr. Sharif indicates the beginning of the end for Al Qaeda.

The author of "Inside Al Qaeda," Rohan Gunaratna said in an interview this week, "There is nothing more important than a former jihadist as important as Dr. Fadl criticizing the jihadist vanguard." Mr. Gunaratna, who acts at times as a consultant for American and Western intelligence, described the reformed theologian as "both an ideologue and operational leader, but he was primarily an ideologue."

An expert on Islamic terrorism with the Jamestown Foundation, Steven Ulph, also said the defection of Mr. Sharif could hemorrhage support for Al Qaeda. "The important point to make, when you have the combination of a respected ideologue, plus someone who was in the field, say these things it is more important than having a Saudi sheik that moderates his message," he said.

I think this revelation to be incredibly important but apparently not noteworthy to Bush hating members of the wider MSM who are hell-bent on preventing good news about the war on terror to reach the masses.

Comments

[Pat]

Thanks for appreciating this as an important piece of news.

Pat

[salvage]

Yes, some terrorists in a cell in Egypt realizing that terrorism is bad is really quite the story. I'm sure al Qeada terrorists the world over are going "By the Prophet's parrot! We've been all wrong!" and are right now packing up and going back home to open up McDonald's franchises.

Or maybe they'll realize that anything that the Egyptian government might be playing some sort of propaganda game or perhaps they tortured / bargained with the bastard to the point that he'll say anything about anything.

In any terrorist movement a cell member who is captured is considered compromised to the point that they might as well be dead. From that point on they really can't be trusted.

Sometimes leadership gets a free pass and they actually gain more of a martyr status from being captured. A double standard for sure but hey, it's good to be king.

Due to it's lack of impact and limited interest because I suspect most people outside of the Middle East never even knew the guy existed most MSM outlets shrugged and went on to tell us what those wacky Spears kids are up to.

[salvage]

Yes, some terrorists in a cell in Egypt realizing that terrorism is bad is really quite the story. I'm sure al Qeada terrorists the world over are going "By the Prophet's parrot! We've been all wrong!" and are right now packing up and going back home to open up McDonald's franchises.

Or maybe they'll realize that anything that the Egyptian government might be playing some sort of propaganda game or perhaps they tortured / bargained with the bastard to the point that he'll say anything about anything.

In any terrorist movement a cell member who is captured is considered compromised to the point that they might as well be dead. From that point on they really can't be trusted.

Sometimes leadership gets a free pass and they actually gain more of a martyr status from being captured. A double standard for sure but hey, it's good to be king.

Due to it's lack of impact and limited interest because I suspect most people outside of the Middle East never even knew the guy existed most MSM outlets shrugged and went on to tell us what those wacky Spears kids are up to.

[Morgan K Freeberg]

Huh. Well, there are some glimmerings of sound reasoning tucked away in all that sarcasm, to be sure. Egypt, unlike the U.S., is not known for being placed under harsh scrutinty and protests from Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch or International Red Cross. We're not going to see hand-wringing and impassioned arguments about whether Cairo should be waterboarding.

And I'll give you this, his words do sound like the words of a man ready to say "anything about anything."

But at the same time, it would be an interesting mental exercise to ponder how world events would be reshaped if this were talked-about as much as, let's say, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal? Talking about things over and over again does have an effect on eventual outcome. Whoever made the decision to print Abu Ghraib stories over and over again, certainly thought so.

[John W]

I’m not feeling the love brother, haven’t for a very long time