Zawahiri... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as
the real brains of the outfit.Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
pledged the group's allegiance to new Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in an audio recording released Thursday on murderous Moslem websites.
Wonder how many years he's been dead...
"As emir of Al-Qaeda, I pledge to you our allegiance, following the path of Sheikh (Osama) Bin Laden and his martyred brothers in their allegiance to Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title
Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
," Zawahiri said, referring to the former Al-Qaeda leader and to the longtime Taliban chief whose death was confirmed last month.
The statement came amid a bitter struggle within the Taliban over Mansour's leadership.
The recording plays over a picture of Zawahiri, who is believed to be in hiding in the Afghanistan-Pakistain border region.
He said that the "emirate" established by the Taliban in Afghanistan was the "first legitimate emirate after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and there is no legitimate emirate in the world apart from it."