http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=125502If al-Qaida members think they are winning the hearts and minds of fellow Muslims, they should think again, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
The terrorist group's popularity actually is falling dramatically owing to the fact that its jihad against the West actually has killed far more Muslims than Westerners.
Indeed, only 15 percent of all victims of al-Qaida attacks from 2004-2008 were Westerners, according to a study conducted by West Point's Combating Terrorism Center.
The December study, "Deadly Vanguards: A Study of Al-Qaida's Violence against Muslims," reveals that more Muslims than Westerners were killed during the survey period.
WND Exclusive FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN
Al-Qaida victims? They're Muslims
Study: Terrorist group kills more Islam followers than Westerners
Posted: February 18, 2010
10:50 pm Eastern
© 2010 WorldNetDaily
Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.
Ayman al-Zawahiri
If al-Qaida members think they are winning the hearts and minds of fellow Muslims, they should think again, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
The terrorist group's popularity actually is falling dramatically owing to the fact that its jihad against the West actually has killed far more Muslims than Westerners.
Indeed, only 15 percent of all victims of al-Qaida attacks from 2004-2008 were Westerners, according to a study conducted by West Point's Combating Terrorism Center.
The December study, "Deadly Vanguards: A Study of Al-Qaida's Violence against Muslims," reveals that more Muslims than Westerners were killed during the survey period.
(Story continues below)
The study, based on news stories during that period, was put together by Scott Helfstein, Nassir Abdullah and Muhammad al-Obaidi.
Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about critical developments around the globe with Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence news source edited and published by the founder of WND.
It points out that in such locations as Iraq where the United States staged a 2007 surge of troops, Sunni tribes actually turned against al-Qaida.
The analysis is contrary to comments from al-Qaida's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
"We haven't killed the innocents; not in Baghdad, nor in Morocco, nor in Algeria, nor anywhere else. And if there is any innocent who was killed in the Mujahideen's operations, then it was either an unintentional error, or out of necessity as in cases of al-Tatarrus," al-Zawahiri said in a September 2007 video ironically called "The Power of Truth."
The term "al-Tatarrus," or "Mas'alatut al-Tatarrus," is his justification for killing Muslims but under limited circumstances.
The al-Tatarrus term refers to non-Muslims taking Muslims as human shields, which is al-Zawahiri's justification for killing Muslims in al-Qaida's jihadist attacks.
A book by Abu Yahya al-Libi defines al-Tatarrus as "the instrument of war known as the human shield as a way of protecting someone from the attacks of an enemy." Al-Libi further points out that there are two types of al-Tatarrus.
The first occurs when the non-Muslim enemy makes Muslims shields to deter an attack. The second happens when Muslims willingly choose to conduct business where non-Muslims are.
This latter argument certainly was the rationale in killing quite a number of Muslims in the al-Qaida terrorist attack on the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon Sept. 11, 2001.
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