Kamangir (Archer)

Zarqawi and Khameneii

Kamangir | April 27, 2006 | Category Iran

Abu Mus’ab Al-Zarqawi recently appeared in a video sending tough messages to the American administration and to the followers of Bush including “the Jews, the Crusaders, the Rafidite Shi’ites, the apostates, and others” that “you will not rest peacefully in the lands of Islam” (see) (see). The word “Rafidite” (Persian: رافضی) means the one who has left the circle of religion and is used for Shias (also Shi’ites, Persian: شیعه) (see) (thanks to Hossein for reminding). So as the major opposition leader to US invasion he excludes Iranian administration, which is Shia, from the good people and adds them to category of bad ones, like Bush. This triangle of hatred is interesting. Zarqawi, Khameneii, and Bush all denounce each other. Though Khameneii may not be very angry with Zarqawi if he stops denying his efforts against the Great Satan.
At the end of the video, there is a briefing from a member of Al’Anbar district about the recent results of research and development. Using a notebook to present the two new missiles, the officer introduces Al-Qaeda 1 missile which can carry 50Kg of warhead to a distance of 40Km. The other achievement is Al-Quds 1 (Quds is the name for the mosque in Jerusalem, Persian: قدس). The later one is a shoulder-launched anti-vehicle weapon with a range of 1Km. The interesting point to me was not the fantastic R&D work and the ambition to do mass production under the hostile situations of Iraq. The amazing part is the portion of Quran read over the scenes of launching the first missile. It reads,

و اعدوا لهم ما استطعتم من قوة و من رباط الخيل ترهبون به عدو الله و عدوكم و آخرين من دونهم لا تعلمونهم الله يعلمهم و ما تنفقوا من شي‏ء في سبيل الله يوف اليكم و انتم‏لا تظلمون

which translates in English into,

Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know. Whatever ye shall spend in the cause of Allah, shall be repaid unto you, and ye shall not be treated unjustly.

It is Anfal, 8 in Quran (see).Actually, it is the very verse decorating Iran’s Sepah army’s logo (see). It really seems Khameneii and Zarqawi should think about their relationship again. They have many common factors.
The video ends with a Hollywood style, yet boring, footage of Zarqawi shooting with a huge machine gun. First he walks a few steps to the right and to the left. Then, he shoots with two different poses for about 40 seconds (the video is about 17 minutes long). He then turns into the camera and says “By Allah, America is certain to be defeated in Iraq. Allah willing …” and the video finishes. This portion is actually among the few occasions when he actually looks at the camera. Even during his long speech he is always looking at somewhere below or besides the camera. Maybe he is reading from a text.