Bin Laden’s No 2 mocks Iraq plan in latest video
TimesOnline
Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command has poured scorn on President Bush’s plan to send thousands more troops to Iraq, boasting that even the whole US army would not be a match for insurgents in Iraq.
In an online video address, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who carries a $25m bounty on head, is shown mocking Mr Bush’s fresh strategy to send 21,000 extra troops to quell sectarian violence, challenging him to send “the entire army” into the conflict-torn nation so that they could be destroyed by his charges.
The video came as the US military said that it had detained more than 600 fighters from Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army, the feared and powerful militia which a recent US report described as having replaced al-Qaeda as the largest threat to security in Iraq.
“In his latest speech, Bush said in his ramblings that he would send 20,000 of his soldiers to Iraq. I ask him: why send only 20,000 soldiers? Why don’t you send 50,000 or 100,000?” he said.
“Don’t you know that the dogs of Iraq are impatient to devour the carcasses of your soldiers? On the contrary, you must send your entire army to be annihilated at the hands of the mujahedeen so that the whole world will be rid of your wickedness.”
In the tape, al-Zawahiri also mocks the US-led mission to rid Afghanistan of remnants of the extremist Taliban movement.
“Iraq, the country of the caliphate and of jihad, is capable of being a tomb for ten of your armies. It is al-Qaeda and the Taliban, led by the emir of the believers, Mullah Mohammed Omar…who have deprived the Americans of a safe haven in Afghanistan.
“Security must be shared: if we are safe, you will be too… If we are hit and killed, you will inescapably be hit and killed. Today, the duty of every Muslim is to bear arms or to support and serve those who bear the arms.”
Zawahiri also refers to recent events in Somalia in his message, accusing the US of being behind the deployment of Ethiopian troops and vowing that Islamist forces would “break the back” of the Ethiopian forces.
Unlike his leader, Osama bin Laden, Zawahiri frequently speaks for Al-Qaeda in video or audiotapes although his whereabouts remain unknown. He is listed by the US government for being wanted in connections with the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and was sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian court a year later.
In a previous online message on January 5, Zawahiri called on the Somali Islamists to be use violence in Iraq and Afghanistan as inspiration to fight the Ethiopian forces in Somalia. The Pentagon said last week that US operations in Somalia would continue until key Al-Qaeda targets were eliminated.
The video came as the US forces said that some 600 fighters and 16 leaders of the Mehdi Army – the militia loyal to radical Shia cleric al-Sadr – had been taken into custody.
A military statement said that in the past 45 days, 52 raids had targeted al-Sadr’s militia, but did not reveal when the members who are awaiting prosecution were detained. It added that a further 42 raids had focused on Sunni insurgents.
The Mehdi Army, which is believed to have up to 60,000 members, forms one of Iraq’s most feared and powerful militias and is suspected of being heavily involved in the killing of Sunnis in Baghdad and other parts of the country. The latest quarterly Pentagon report released last month named it as the largest threat to security, saying it “has replaced al-Qaeda in Iraq as the most dangerous accelerant of potentially self-sustaining sectarian violence in Iraq.”
Wild Thing’s comment…….
I’m so gonna love it when this fleabag’s skull gets renovated with a skylight. Courtesy of a US Army sniper.
The Democrats hate it when Ayman al-Zawahiri releases his stuff prior to President Bush’s State of the Union speech tonight. It forces the Democrat speech writers to change all the portions about Iraq in the Dem response to avoid charges of plagiarism. heh heh
There are SO many “Number Twos” in the Islamofascist hierarchy, it is hard to tell how close to the top Joe Biden or Jack Murtha are.
Bwahahaha, they’re all ‘Number Two’s’. Pass the Ammo!!! Ayman al-Zawahiri read this.
That’s a big brave speach he made while hiding in some cave in the mountains. I wonder how it feels to never be able to show your face in public for FEAR of getting it blown away.
Ah, the Al-Qaeda state of their union speech. From a frig’n cave. The location alone tells the state of their predicament. Another dirty, old, unshaven, smelly pedophile trying to tell the World how important Al-Qaeda wants to be. They are only important as a target, and as an example of what the democraps want America to be like.
“…when this fleabag’s skull gets renovated for a skylight”. Hahahahahahh..haahah..really good stuff, WT.
As the guys have said, this Arab POS is skulking around in a cave somewhere, sending young numbskulls to their deaths.
But as for Iraq, I thinks the place will become one gigantic slaughterhouse no matter what we do, and I don’t care. Give it one more shot; when it fails because of the Iraqis, then come home.
I don’t want to abandon this cause, and the bloodbath to follow will involve Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel and possibly the states to the east of Iraq, but neither we nor a “democratized” Iraq will change that. Let it happen. Accept the oil shocks and pick up the pieces later. Cover the escape routes to Africa, support Somalia and Ethiopia with SF troops, but forget the Middle East.
Any liberated nation so unstable that over 34,000 people can be murdered in a single year is not a nation on the mend. In modern times, such nauseating brutality always accompanies a totalitarian government to follow…unless we exclude France, which killed as many French people in revenge and cover-ups after WWII.
No one could have know these people could sink so low. The innocent are along for the ride, but that’s the way it’s always been.
Jawa has the unedited video, which is rather long. I want to get a transcript and read it. He said something about halfway through that was interesting. He was calling on muslims to free themselves from the shackles of the foundations and the mosques as if he were asking them to spread out. It was kind of cryptic and unsettling. Check it out if you have the time.
Jack I love that…” Pass the Ammo!”
Bob, exactly, they are such cowards and bullies. OH they do a ton of damage but they have to kill themselves to do it usually. How dumb is that.
Cowards in dirty turbins.
Tom…..”They are only important as a target”….I would love a T-shirt with that on it and a photo image of one of these jerks. heh heh
Rhod, thank you so much. heh heh
Good to see you.
Your right Rhod, that sure is the way it has always been.
Billy thanks for the information. I will go over there now.