Has Al Qaeda targeted Late Show host David Letterman? According to an analyst from SITE, a private company that tracks extremist websites, it seems that way: they tell EW that a member of an Al Qaeda message board has posted an assassination threat against the comedian. Is it because his "intoxicating" sexuality is threatening them?
SITE analyst Adam Raisman says that a poster calling himself Umar al-Basrawi wrote on the message board: “Is there not amongst you a Sayyid Nosair al-Masri (may Allah release him) to cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever. Just as Sayyid (may Allah release him) did with the Jew Kahane.” Sayyid Nosair al-Masri was tried for the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1990.
So what got al-Basrawi so riled up? It was because Letterman mocked the death of accused terrorist leader Ilyas Kashmiri, who was killed by an airstrike in Pakistan in June. Al-Basrawi alleged that Letterman put a hand to his neck and demonstrated the “way of slaughter”—“He showed his evil nature and deep hatred for Islam and Muslims, and said that Ilyas Kashmiri was killed and he joined bin Laden. We ask Allah to paralyze his tongue and grant the sincere monotheists his neck.”
Raisman says the threat is more serious than the “warning” posted against South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone last year: “This was a more explicit threat. It was direct and to the point.” Nevertheless, he says Letterman should treat this threat like he would any obsessive fans' threat...which Letterman has had more than his fair share of experience with over the years.
