Qatar's Al-Jazeera the Mr. Clean for The Al-Qaeda Brotherhood.

Al-Nusra 

Qatar's Al-Jazeera the Mr. Clean for The Al-Qaeda Brotherhood.(now.mmedia.me).By Tareq.Aziza.

Al-Jazeera’s recent interview with the founder and leader of Al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch, Jabhat al-Nusra for the People of al-Sham, has provoked negative responses from many Syrians and many people who follow events in Syria.

Some have asked what the channel hoped to achieve by running the interview, while others questioned the legality of ‘promoting’ an organization that has been put on international terror lists.

Criticism has also been lodged against Ahmed Mansour, the journalist who carried out the interview. The Al-Jazeera presenter, who is famous for his provocative and challenging questions, seemed to adopt a different style in Abu Mohammed al-Jolani’s presence. Some people even saw the meeting as a kind of advert for Jabhat al-Nusra and its leader; more of a ‘chat between two close friends’ than a journalistic interview.

This is no surprise when, in addition to Ahmed Mansour’s background and his pro-Muslim Brotherhood leanings, one considers Al-Jazeera’s policy of support for the Islamist organization.

Today, through its Syrian branch, the Brotherhood is working to portray Nusra in a good light, and promote it in Syria and the region. This has been especially pronounced since the military advances made by Jaish al-Fatah (the Army of Conquest), for it is Nusra that forms the backbone of the coalition of jihadist groups, some of which are linked to the Brotherhood. 

Accordingly, the Brotherhood is trying to distance Nusra from ‘global jihad’ as much as possible. On many occasions, its members have called on Jolani to break his allegiance to Al-Qaeda. Even Mohamed Hikmat Walid, the Brotherhood’s controller-general in Syria, has asked the Nusra chief to break ranks with the organization, but so far Jolani has not answered their call. What Al-Jazeera did is in keeping with the Muslim Brotherhood’s leanings and the channel’s policy of support for the Brotherhood.

Aside from this, despite the apparent ‘differences’ between the Syrian Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, friendly relations currently prevail between the two organizations. This presents us with a good opportunity to examine their shared history. By shedding light on some parts of their relationship over the years, we can see how the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood played important direct and indirect roles in the emergence and development of Al-Qaeda. As Jolani said himself in his first interview with Al-Jazeera (Jolani was interviewed by Tayseer Allouni around a year-and-a-half ago), he and his group are “one of the fruits of global jihad.” In the same interview he praised Syria and Egypt’s Muslim Brothers for providing the movement’s foundation before it took shape in Afghanistan.

It seems logical that Al-Qaeda’s current promoters are the same people who supported it intellectually and supplied it with manpower in the past.

Looking into the ‘Al-Qaeda Brotherhood’s’ eventful history, one may reach a deeper understanding of their new game with Jabhat al-Nusra. This game betrays a pragmatic, mercurial nature “without borders” sponsored by the channel of “the opinion and the other opinion.” Hmmm.....Global Jihad here we come. Read the full story here.