Zawahiri’s paradox

Steven Den Beste alerts us to this paragraph from CNN’s account of Zawahiri’s speech:

“Can’t you be honest at least once in your life and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq under the pretext of the presence of nuclear weapons there and under the pretext of al Qaeda’s connections with Saddam Hussein, following which evidence proved that you intentionally lied and misled?”

Steve notes that Zawahiri “sounds like Howard Dean.” CNN also summarizes the second part of Zawahiri’s speech regarding the Pope and the Church:

On the tape, al-Zawahiri calls the leader of the Roman Catholic Church an “impostor” whose religion “is made of myths, like the Trinity, crucifixion, sacrifice and the original sin.”

“This impostor, Benedict, reminds us of another impostor, his predecessor [Pope] Urban II from the 11th century in Clermont, France, who urged the people of Europe to kill the Muslims and launched the crusades,” al-Zawahiri says.

Don’t worry, however, about any nuns getting shot or churches getting torched:

Benedict, he says, “went beyond his way to defame us, [but] we will respond to his insult with kindness.”

JOHN adds: See, too my post from last night on the Zawahiri video.

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