Washington - Al-Qaeda's second-in-command condemned Barack Obama in the group's first message since the November 4 election, using a racial slur to suggest the president-elect is serving the cause of white people. In an audio recording released Wednesday by al-Qaeda, Ayman al- Zawahiri called Obama "the direct opposite of honourable black Americans" and unlike Malcolm X, a radical figure of the 1960s civil rights movement in the United States.
"You have reached the position of president, and a heavy legacy of failure and crimes awaits you," al-Zawahiri said in a direct message to Obama, according to a transcript provided by the private US-based IntelCenter. "It appears that you continue to be captive to the same criminal American mentality towards the world and towards Muslims."
The Egyptian-born al-Zawahiri grouped Obama with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor Colin Powell, calling them "House Negroes," a racial epitaph commonly used by Malcolm X to describe African Americans he believed served at the pleasure of whites.
"You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of leadership in America," al-Zawahiri said.
The Obama transition team refused to respond to Osama bin Laden's deputy, but the White House condemned the remarks as showing why the world must continue fighting al-Qaeda.
"What we have here is more despicable and pathetic comments by al- Qaeda terrorists," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "And I think that these comments just remind everybody of the kind of people that we are dealing with."
Al-Zawahiri's remarks show how isolated the terrorist network is given Obama's worldwide popularity and it "seems like they are tyring to prove their relevancy," a US counterterrorism official said.
"It appears they are out of touch with reality and what has been going on in the world since the presidential election," the official, who requested anonymity, said.
The audio tape marks al-Qaeda's first mention of Obama. The group did not release any videos ahead of the election and there has been no word from bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
In 2004, bin Laden released a video just days before the US election between President George W Bush and Democrat John Kerry. The message is believed by some to have swung the election in Bush's favour by turning US voters' minds back to security issues.
Obama's election was widely celebrated around the world in marked contrast to the widespread unpopularity of Bush. The president-elect promised during the campaign to restore the US' global image.
Obama has also vowed to renew the fight against al-Qaeda by sending more troops to Afghanistan. He regularly criticized Bush on the campaign trail for becoming distracted from the war against al- Qaeda by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Obama, in a television interview on Sunday, vowed to step up the US effort to capture or kill bin Laden.
Al-Zawahiri said Obama is "destined for failure" in Afghanistan and has chosen a "stance of hostility" towards Muslims owing to his support of Israel. He said Americans' choice to elect a president who advocated a withdrawal from Iraq showed the terrorist group was winning the battle.
Obama will be inaugurated January 20 and his ascendency to the White House will mark the first wartime transition of power in the US since Vietnam.
Obama, a Christian, was born to a Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas. He grew up mostly in Hawaii but spent some of his early years in Indonesia.
