CAIRO, Egypt, May 31, 2008
Women Fight For Right To Join Al Qaeda
Extremist Who Says Women's Place Is In The Home Draws Backlash From Female Jihadists
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In this November 2005 file photo, Iraqi Sajida al-Rishawi reveals an explosive belt as she confesses to her failed bid to set off an explosives belt inside an Amman hotel targeted by al Qaeda. (CBS)
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Interactive Bin Laden & Al Qaeda Where al Qaeda operates, who's been caught, how they're financed and a timeline of attacks on Americans.
In response to a female questioner, al Qaeda No. 2 leader Ayman Al-Zawahri said in April that the terrorist group does not have women. A woman's role, he said on the Internet audio recording, is limited to caring for the homes and children of al Qaeda fighters.
His remarks have since prompted an outcry from fundamentalist women, who are fighting or pleading for the right to be terrorists. The statements have also created some confusion, because in fact suicide bombings by women seem to be on the rise, at least within the Iraq branch of al Qaeda.
A'eeda Dahsheh is a Palestinian mother of four in Lebanon who said she supports al-Zawahri and has chosen to raise children at home as her form of jihad. However, she said, she also supports any woman who chooses instead to take part in terror attacks.
Another woman signed a more than 2,000-word essay of protest online as Rabeebat al-Silah, Arabic for "Companion of Weapons."
"How many times have I wished I were a man ... When Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahri said there are no women in al Qaeda, he saddened and hurt me," wrote "Companion of Weapons," who said she listened to the speech 10 times. "I felt that my heart was about to explode in my chest...I am powerless."
Such postings have appeared anonymously on discussion forums of Web sites that host videos from top al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. While the most popular site requires names and passwords, many people use only nicknames, making their identities and locations impossible to verify.
However, groups that monitor such sites say the postings appear credible because of the knowledge and passion they betray. Many appear to represent computer-literate women arguing in the most modern of venues - the Internet - for rights within a feudal version of Islam.
"Women were very disappointed because what al-Zawahri said is not what's happening today in the Middle East, especially in Iraq or in Palestinian groups," said Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that monitors militant Web sites. "Suicide operations are being carried out by women, who play an important role in jihad."
It's not clear how far women play a role in al Qaeda because of the group's amorphous nature.
Terrorism experts believe there are no women in the core leadership ranks around bin Laden and al-Zawahri. But beyond that core, al Qaeda is really a movement with loosely linked offshoots in various countries and sympathizers who may not play a direct role. Women are clearly among these sympathizers, and some are part of the offshoot groups.
In the Iraq branch, for example, women have carried out or attempted at least 20 suicide bombings since 2003. Al Qaeda members suspected of training women to use suicide belts were captured in Iraq at least three times last year, the U.S. military has said.
Hamas, another militant group, is open about using women fighters and disagrees with al Qaeda's stated stance. At least 11 Palestinian women have launched suicide attacks in recent years.
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"A lot of the girls I speak to ... want to carry weapons. They live with this great frustration and oppression," said Huda Naim, a prominent women's leader, Hamas member and Palestinian lawmaker in Gaza. "We don't have a special militant wing for women ... but that doesn't mean that we strip women of the right to go to jihad."Jihad is not exclusive to men.
Umm FarouqAl-Zawahri's remarks show the fine line al Qaeda walks in terms of public relations. In a modern Arab world where women work even in some conservative countries, al Qaeda's attitude could hurt its efforts to win over the public at large. On the other hand, noted SITE director Katz, al-Zawahri has to consider that many al Qaeda supporters, such as the Taliban, do not believe women should play a military role in jihad.
Al-Zawahri's comments came in a two-hour audio recording posted on an Islamic militant Web site, where he answered hundreds of questions sent in by al Qaeda sympathizers. He praised the wives of mujahedeen, or holy warriors. He also said a Muslim woman should "be ready for any service the mujahedeen need from her," but advised against traveling to a war front like Afghanistan without a male guardian.
Al-Zawahri's stance might stem from personal history, as well as religious beliefs. His first wife and at least two of their six children were killed in a U.S. air strike in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar in 2001. He later accused the U.S. of intentionally targeting women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I say to you ... (I have) tasted the bitterness of American brutality: my favorite wife's chest was crushed by a concrete ceiling," he wrote in a 2005 letter.
Al-Zawahri's question-and-answer campaign is one sign of al Qaeda's sophistication in using the Web to keep in touch with its popular base, even while its leaders remain in hiding. However, the Internet has also given those disenfranchised by al Qaeda - in this case, women - a voice they never had before.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The secrets of tennis legend 
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See all 168 CommentsRe: "Hey there FreeFeel4All.
Looks like your buddy Aquavelvajahd is in need of fightin'' men. Go enlist so you can go kill all those Jews you hate so much."
Posted by bretster7
Nope. Iran has a real military, and I suspect that this will be demonstrated if King Dipshit or Israel are foolish and desperate enough to attack.
I have never seen anything that President Ahmadinejad has ever said that was a clear threat to Israel. For example, he never said that he planned to "wipe Israel off the map" as our Corporate/AIPAC controlled media so often repeats.
What he seems to say is that they are self-wiping, and it is increasingly obvious that this is true.
I don''t hate anyone, and I don''t think that the Jewish religion is necessarily any more dangerous than the others. Israel and Israeli rulers do not come close to representing Jews. Most Jewish people do not even live in Israel, and many courageous Jews are openly critical of Zionist extremism, both inside and outside of Israel. I consider them to be my comrades.
Zionist extremism is a mental disease for which there seems to be no cure, however. I am glad to see their ideology join that of the neo-fascists in the dustbin of history.
Good riddance!
Hey there FreeFeel4All.
Looks like your buddy Aquavelvajahd is in need of fightin'' men. Go enlist so you can go kill all those Jews you hate so much.
You can''''t support your claim, and you can''''t refute mine, so you turn to an off-the-mark personal attack.
Neo-fascists, and the 4% of Americans who think they''''re doing a bang-up job (no pun intended) are so utterly predictable.
Re: "Feelfree, you cannot deny your people are cowardly hiding among civilians to avoid being attacked.."
I am U.S. citizen, born and raised, and an Army vet.
Are you claiming that the U.S. military hides behind "Human Shields" like the Israelis have been proven, beyond any doubt, to do?
Looks like your "search" has left you empty-handed.
Posted by FeelFree4U
Complaining about giving attributes when you''re doing it yourself!
huh! hypocrite!
You may well be all you claim, yeah sure, but one thing you are is hypocrite and bigot.
Leave Israel and religion aside..
we are talking about alqada and the rest of the terrorists....
Do not spin the bottle..israelis are not the terrorists...it is US and Alqada, US and Hezbollah, US and Iraq, US and Iran, US and Talibans....
Re: "When will we wake up and realize the only solution is to round up all these Muslims and deport them or exterminate them? They are vermin."
Posted by FeelFreee4U at 01:22 AM
Mr. Totten,
I have already pointed out that you are of fighting age, you obviously hate and fear Muslims, and you are obviously sympathetic to the welfare/terror-State Of Israel, yet you are too craven to join the fight. Like a sniveling, bloodthirsty worm.
If you had any gonads, you would come right out and declare your hatred and fear of Muslims, instead of hiding behind me, and you would join the fight. But you don''t join, since, as a eunuch, you don''t have any gonads.
What a small, pathetic little man you are.
factsearcher,
Re: "This kind of people are EXACTLY the ones I was referring to when I said no more intelligent people would exist if we listen to these lunatic alqadas, hamas, hezbollahs, etc..."
You can''t support your claim, and you can''t refute mine, so you turn to an off-the-mark personal attack.
Neo-fascists, and the 4% of Americans who think they''re doing a bang-up job (no pun intended) are so utterly predictable.
Re: "Feelfree, you cannot deny your people are cowardly hiding among civilians to avoid being attacked.."
I am U.S. citizen, born and raised, and an Army vet.
Are you claiming that the U.S. military hides behind "Human Shields" like the Israelis have been proven, beyond any doubt, to do?
Looks like your "search" has left you empty-handed.
Posted by FeelFree4U
This kind of people are EXACTLY the ones I was referring to when I said no more intelligent people would exist if we listen to these lunatic alqadas, hamas, hezbollahs, etc...
With facts, photos, newspapers clipping, Feelfree, you cannot deny your people are cowardly hiding among civilians to avoid being attacked..training children and women to kill..in the name of what? in the name of who???
In the name of oppression, power and tyranny!
Savages!
-So women are wanting to become terrorists and you blame it on GW Bush.
Now I did no such thing. I just merely stated that GWB was retarded.
--So lets blow all the ragheads to hell
In the name of McJesus.
-Islamic jihad is EVIL. It must be defeated.
This is exactly what I propose. We are in agreement.
So what is your argument with me? Maybe its just that you don''t appreciate my musical ability. Thats fair enough. I think your songs suck really bad too.
-..and flat out ignorant.
-..radicals want to here,
That is spelled "hear".
-..you then bluntly.
In this context you would spell the word "than".
Re: "It''s not exclusive to innocent bystandard civilians when they hide among them so not to be attacked or found."
Posted by factsearcher
The only group that we know of, FOR SURE, with a chronic policy of hiding behind "human shields", are the Israelis- proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, before their own Supreme Court.
www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/oct05/1.php
They often attempt to attribute this cowardly practice to their adversaries, as a pathetic excuse to justify their own crimes and atrocities, and always without any substantial support, much as you are attempting to do here.
Umm Farouq
Jihad is not exclusive to children either. It''s not exclusive to innocent bystandard civilians when they hide among them so not to be attacked or found.
Jihad is not exclusive in killing you, me or anyone who believes in democracy and freedom of speech. It''s not exclusive in eliminationg you, me or anyone who doesn''t believe in Allah.
As you can see that would leave a minority of intelligent people in this world. That''s what they want.
And we still want to talk to this people!
Posted by S_Temper
Really? Then where do the sacrificed terrorists get their 72 virgins? Are those virgins men? That must be a reward worth killing themselves for.
S_Temper,
So you hate Muslims AND Jews.
Are you non-religious, or have you found a religion that has all the right answers?
Take for example the "Zawahiri" Q & A. Not only did this production demonstrate that "al-Qaeda" does not appear to have any effective communications capabilities, but it seems to show that there are no formal members, that nobody knows what or where there mission is, that they have zero command structure.
It took "Zawahiri" 4 months to respond to some simple questions, and he laid out his "strategy" ON THE INTERNET!!!
If these guys are really that feeble and disorganized, they are obviously of little or no threat to anyone but themselves.
In another example we saw The SITE "Group" (of 2) make up a propaganda story about "al-Qaeda" and nukes, complete with lifted fake graphic from a video game, then debunk their own original propaganda article. ABSURD!!
In any case, even if "al-Qaeda" were an actual global "TERROR" network, which appears not to be the case, it is clear that they lack the ability to launch any serious strike against anybody!
The "al-Qaeda" fairy-tales are a big, deadly joke, and that''''s about it!
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Posted by FeelFree4U at 09:57 PM : Jun 01, 2008
-Full of sens here FF4U! The fairytale continues with cheap Hollywood-type invented enemy! This group was forcefully nourished by CIA and Mossad, M13 and Saudis, in order to kick the Soviets outa Afghanistan!
At any rate, at this point it is safe to conclude that anything coming from the SITE "Group" or IntelCenter is an intentional lie, and that "al-Qaeda", if it even exists as a "terror network", lacks the membership, communications abilities, strategy, and command structure to be any more of a threat than your neighbor''s dog.
It''s time to call off the shameful and self defeating War of Terror due to lack of threat, and lack of interest.
The only terrorists that we need concern ourselves with at the moment are the ones in D.C.
All other threats are insignificant by comparison.
I think that we can all agree on that (except for the 4% of Americans that still think that things here are going just peachy keen).
Re: "S_Temper.......Looks like you touched one of FeelFree4U nerves!!! I always suspected FeelFree4U is either a muslim terrorist or gay or a gay muslim terrorist."
Posted by edintex
Can''t you guys just get a room?
Nobody wants to read about your ****-erotic fantasies.
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