Following are excerpts from an audio recording titled (in English) "The Beginning of the End,” by Abu Mansour Al-Amriki ("The American"), an American commander in the Al-Qaeda-linked group Shabab Al-Mujahideen. The recording, which is in English, was posted on the Internet on July 9, 2009. In the recording, Abu Mansour responds to U.S. President Barack Obama's Cairo speech last month, telling Obama that "we cannot and shall not extend our hand - rather we shall extend to you our swords"; states that Obama is "only changing his strategy from a short-term win to a long-term victory" and underlines that "one major miscalculation that has come from Obama and his tens of speech writers is their assumptions about the goals and aspirations of Muslims - a Muslim doesn't look to peace, security, education, work, or the love of any other number of things as his ultimate goals. Instead, a Muslim is always working and striving to please the one true Creator." Abu Mansour also states: "Glad tidings to the mujahideen all over the world, that they are the reason for this apologetic speech of Obama. The very existence of the mujahideen... is the reason that Obama is living in fear across seas." He adds, "As you have presented to us a new beginning, we reply by saying that by the permission of Allah, this beginning is, at best, the beginning of the end - the end of the tyranny and oppression so common to America." To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2174.htm.
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