Bin Laden wanted to change al-Qaida's bloodied name

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Osama bin Laden was considering changing al-Qaida's name to improve its image among Muslims, according to documents obtained by US special forces from the compound where he was killed.

A letter apparently written in the months before he died indicates that Bin Laden felt al-Qaida, which means "the base", was not sufficiently religious and did not reinforce the message that the group considered itself to be engaged in a holy war against the enemies of Islam.

A name change would allow al-Qaida to distance itself from growing criticism within the Islamic world that it was responsible for killing large numbers of Muslims, Bin Laden wrote.

The letter, described to the Associated Press news agency by US officials, provides further evidence that Bin Laden was considering increasingly desperate measures to retain support for his campaign of violence and to maintain the relevance of his group.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/24/bin-laden-documents-alqaida-struggle

[lobodons]

1. It worked for Blackwater

now known as XI

[polichick]

3. And for "New Dems."

[No Elephants]

13. An idea with more aliases than a professional check forger.

DLC, New Dems, Third Way, No Labels, "progressive," "pragmatic."

[Sabriel]

2. How about LulzTerror?

Or Wikiterror?

Lots of fun possibilities there.

[Taverner]

4. I could see this as one of the funnier Top 10 lists from Letterman

[IamK]

5. One suggestion was "The Apple Dumpling Gang" ... n/t

[kirby]

6. I'm sure many PR firms in the USA would have done it! n/t

[dipsydoodle]

7. The west called have called it The Base from the outset

but it just didn't sound spooky enough.

[rampart]

8. it means "the data base"

"Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook wrote that the word al-Qaeda should be translated as "the database", and originally referred to the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen militants who were recruited and trained with CIA help to defeat the Russians. In April 2002, the group assumed the name Qa'idat al-Jihad, which means "the base of Jihad". According to Diaa Rashwan, this was "apparently as a result of the merger of the overseas branch of Egypt's al-Jihad (Egyptian Islamist Jihad, or EIJ) group, led by Ayman El-Zawahiri, with the groups Bin Laden brought under his control after his return to Afghanistan in the mid-1990s." wikipedia

i am not certain if they ever called themselves "al-qaeda."

[ForeignandDomestic]

9. .......

Al CIAeda?

[CJvR]

10. Perhaps...

...he should have tried something revolutionary - like stop killing muslims.

[slackmaster]

11. I like "the Sunday Afternoon Mahjong Club"

:nuke:

[vanbean]

12. The "Less than 100 that are costing us trillions."