“Al-Qaeda are so clever, they can make so many weapons from nothing. They can go to any kitchen, make a very nice pizza bomb and deliver it fresh,” Bakri claimed. He described the regional uprisings that rocked the Middle East as “al-Qaeda's victory.” The Arab Spring and “the dismantling of authoritarian regimes and ruthless intelligence services have given Salafist groups room to breathe; and the thousands of jailed Islamists in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, released as the dictatorships crumbled, have been perfect for recruiting.”“A Profile of Syrian Jihadist Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, December 21, 2012, http://mlm.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=40259&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=591#.VU-iktpViko.

Echoing the rhetoric of other jihadists, Bakri warned the West against staying in the Middle East. “In the future if anybody puts a finger on our nations we will fight back, we have our own men, our own power.”“A Profile of Syrian Jihadist Omar Bakri Muhammad,” Jamestown Foundation, December 21, 2012, http://mlm.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=40259&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=591#.VU-iktpViko.