Al Qaeda’s No. 2 States that AQ Does Not Kill Innocent People : With Logic Like This....

Al Qaeda’s No. 2 Defends Attacks
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAIRO (AP) — A speaker on an audiotape identified as Ayman al-Zawahri, the chief deputy to Osama bin Laden, has rejected criticism of attacks by Al Qaeda’s followers that have killed thousands of people, maintaining that Al Qaeda does not kill innocent people.

The comment came during a 90-minute audio response, issued Wednesday, that was described as the first installment of answers to the more than 900 questions submitted on extremist Internet sites by Al Qaeda’s supporters, critics and journalists in December.

“We haven’t killed the innocents, not in Baghdad, nor in Morocco, nor in Algeria nor anywhere else,” the speaker identified as Mr. Zawahri said, according to a transcript posted on Web sites linked to Al Qaeda.

“If there is any innocent who was killed in the mujahedeen’s operations, then it was either an unintentional error or out of necessity,” he said.

PS The bump on Mr. Zawahri's forehead is a mark of religious dedication, a testament to bumping his head 5 times a day on the prayer mat.