Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader praised the three Bali bombers recently executed in Indonesia and criticized Saudi and other Arab leaders for participating in a U.N. interfaith conference in a recording posted on the Web Monday.Ayman al-Zawahri said in the audio recording on an Islamic Web site that Indonesia and other governments in the Islamic world are protecting the interests of the "Crusaders" and the Jews and preventing Muslims from joining the jihad, or holy war, against them. The 22-minute recording is al-Zawahri's third in less than two weeks.
The recording contained short statements by two of the men executed in Indonesian in which they call on Muslims to continue the jihad against the United Sates and the West. The three men had urged retaliation for their pending deaths in countless TV interviews broadcast to a national audience in Indonesia before they were executed by firing squad on Nov. 9, prompting some critics to accuse authorities of allowing them to cultivate an image as Islamic martyrs. Al-Zawahri praised the three men as "unshaken heroes who adhered to their faith."
Al-Zawahri described a Nov. 13 U.N. interfaith conference as a "ridiculous play organized by the Saudi government under the pretext of interfaith dialogue that other Arab and Islamic governments took part in." He said the meeting was "an exposed trick to hold direct talks with Israel." The 80 countries at the event issued a declaration rejecting the use of religion to justify acts of terrorism and other violence against innocent civilians. The two-day meeting was initiated by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and brought 14 world leaders to New York, including the heads of Pakistan and Afghanistan and Israel's president.
The al-Qaida posting included video images from the conference showing Israeli President Shimon Peres addressing the meeting, as well as the Saudi king and two senior clerics from al-Zawahri's native Egypt. "The strange thing is that the Saudi rulers who call for dialogue are far away from talking to their people. ... They are ready for a dialogue with anyone whom the United Sates orders them to talk to," he said.
Osama bin Laden's deputy also accused the Saudis of helping the United States form and finance the groups of former insurgents who turned against al-Qaida in Iraq known as awakening councils.
The Web posting was produced by al-Qaida's media arm, al-Sahab, and was posted on an Islamic Web site that frequently carries al-Qaida statements.