In a taunting, 24 minute message that dwelled on Obama's
setbacks, including the loss of Massachusetts Senate seat to the Republicans,
Adam Gadahn set out Al-Qaeda's conditions for peace with the US, including
cutting support for Israel and withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Gadahn said that if you compared the number of dead Muslims “with
the relatively small number of Americans we have killed so far, it becomes
crystal-clear that we haven't even begun to even the score,” he said, dressed
in a white robe and turban.
“That's why next time, we might not show the restraint and
self-control we have shown up until now,” he said.
Even if Al-Qaeda was defeated, “hundreds of millions of
Muslims” would still fight the US, he added.
Al-Qaeda offered the same conditions for an end to
hostilities to then President George W. Bush in 2007, including the release of
all Muslim prisoners and cutting off aid to Middle East governments.
Gadahn's statement was notable for its mocking tone, in
which he described Obama as “a devious, evasive and serpentine American
president with a Muslim name,” and seemed to delight in his setbacks.
“You're no longer the popular man you once were, a year ago
or so,” he crowed, ascribing his drop in popularity to the escalation of the US
wars abroad.
At the time of Obama's election, many analysts said Al-Qaeda
was worried that his race and Muslim family connections would make him more
appealing to Muslims and Arabs angry at Bush's foreign policy.
In its statements since his election, Al-Qaeda has taken
pains to show the continuity between Obama's foreign policy and that of his
predecessor.
Gadahn is wanted by the FBI since 2004 with a $1 million
reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.
He is also known as Azzam Al-Amriki, Arabic for the
American.