Some interesting news slipped by the news media (big surprise there). It seems al-Qaeda’s number two, Aymen Al Zawahiri, has come out with a book defending al-Qaeda against blow back the group has been receiving from other founders of militant Islam (or what I call Islamo Fascism). The Zawahiri book is a clear indication al-Qaeda is being beleaguered by more the America, it must be losing support (which is something that has been hinted at in many stories from many sources over the past few months). The big issue – surprise – is the massacring of fellow Muslims.

Here is a short (shrift) version of the news in the media:

A 212-page book on militant Islamic websites is the latest salvo in an intellectual war between the ideological founders of al Qaida and Islamic militancy, many of whom have become disillusioned with the suicide bombings and attacks on civilians that have become the hallmark of the movement.

This is a major story if the rift is real. And it must be for Zawahiri to spend time and effort on putting together such a large rationale for the blood shed. Here is a bit more on the book:

Second, Al-Qaeda’s decision to publish such a work is strong evidence that it is deeply worried that radical Islamists could be influenced by Sayyed Imam and abandon the jihad. [1] Al-Zawahiri’s Treatise is actually a sharp about-face for Al-Qaeda; up until this point, it had studiously ignored the substantive arguments put forward by Sayyed Imam, and had simply asserted that the Egyptian security services had tortured Imam into writing the book, and that it thus did not merit serious discussion. [2] Hence, the Treatise is a tacit admission that Al-Qaeda is facing an unprecedented ideological challenge.

There should be more on this event in the media – especially since Iraq and the war on terror is front and center in the 2008 campaign. I can see al-Qaeda losing support since it also sucks up people and money from other groups, who may realize the benefit in triangulating between al-Qaeda’s fascism and some other arrangements for dealing with their political views. Hopefully more will be reported on this amazing turn of events.