Al-Qaida No. 2 blasts France’s push to ban Islamic face veil, eulogizes comrade in new message
By APWednesday, July 28, 2010
Al-Qaida No. 2 slams France’s ban on Islamic veils
CAIRO — Al-Qaida’s No. 2 has slammed France’s push to ban the Islamic full-face veil and urged Muslim women in a new audio message on the Internet to defend their headdress in a holy war against the “secular Western crusade.”
Ayman al-Zawahri says the drive by France and some other European nations is a discrimination against Muslim women.
In the 47-minute recording released on militant websites on Wednesday, al-Qaida’s deputy leader also eulogized the terror network’s reputed No. 3 official, who was killed with his family in a U.S. strike in Pakistan in May.
Al-Zawahri praises Mustafa al-Yazid’s sacrifice and goes on to claim that although killed al-Qaida militants in Iraq outnumber U.S. soldiers 100-to-1, the U.S. will still withdraw from Iraq in defeat.
