Al-Qaida No. 2 Insults Obama In New Audio Message

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) – Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri is criticizing Barack Obama in a new message, calling him a demeaning racial term implying that the president-elect is a black American who does the bidding of whites.

Al-Zawahri says in an audio message, which appeared on militant Web sites Wednesday, that Obama is “the direct opposite of honorable black Americans” like Malcolm X. He calls Obama a “house negro.”

The audio plays over still pictures of al-Zawahri, Malcolm X praying, and Obama with Jewish leaders.

In the first public al-Qaida comment about Obama’s electoral victory, al-Zawahri adds that Obama’s plan to shift troops to Afghanistan is doomed to failure, because Afghans will resist.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)