"Who does Number 2 work for?"
Posted on 01/23/2007 11:42:47 AM PST by MadIvan
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.
The recording was posted by the US-based SITE Institute, which searches and analyses militant networks and said it had found the video on al-Qaeda’s multimedia arm. In the 15-minute tape - which marks the first reaction from the terror group to the new Iraq strategy - the Egyptian-born al-Zawahiri is seen taunting the US, wearing his trademark white turban and black cloak.
"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."
Mr Bush, facing mounting criticism of his handling of Iraq, announced on January 10 that he would send an additional 21,500 troops in a mission to stem the sectarian violence which has been blamed on al-Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents as well as deadly Shia militia.
The President has waged an aggressive public relations campaign over the past week to warn against pulling out of the conflict-torn nation hastily, and is expected to focus on the issue in his annual State of the Union speech tonight.
But US forces have suffered heavy casualties in Iraq this month, with 49 dead including 12 troops killed in a helicopter crash for which the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda claimed responsibility in an internet statement posted yesterday.
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."
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
I like Gates. He is going to work out nicely.
I wish W would relay, thru private channels, a reply along the lines of "Too bad Osama died hiding in a cave, coward that he is."
I'm so gonna love it when this fleabag's skull gets renovated with a skylight. Courtesy of a US Army sniper.
Hmmmmmm
So, he's delivering the Dem's Response to the SOTUA?.......
Is that Joe Biden or Jack Murtha?
I thought we killed his No. 2 man, like 7 or 8 times.
"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."
Maybe esoteric, but this chuckle heads use of the term "dog" may be of some interest.
Dogs are thouroughly unclean animals, there is video of Iraqi's literally ripping caught dogs to pieces, yet chuckle head calls the muj's "dogs" I would bet that is some of the religious divide between sunni and wahhabi's coming out.
Can you be mocked by someone who is hiding?
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.
UBL's #2. Heh heh heh. Fitting description of him.
In this instance, I believe this scumbag is using the term "dog" to mean the infidels are so bad that they deserve to be eaten by dogs, which by their definition is the lowest of the low. Calling someone a dog over there is major, major insult.
From the Site institute:
"...He then turns to the American people, reminding of past offers of security by reaching an “understanding” with Muslims, and warns that if they continue to follow the policies of Bush and his administration, then peace is impossible. The “correct equation,” as Zawahiri puts it, is security being a shared destiny, but not guaranteed. He states: “if we are secure, you might be secure, and if we are safe, you might be safe. And if we are struck and killed, you will definitely - with Allah's permission - be struck and killed.”
LOL..in other words, Zawahiri wants to deal with the democrats!! He will then give no assurances of 'peace' when the dems give him everything he wants (the withdrawal of American Troops)!!
BTW..does anyone know where we can get a complete transcript of Zawahiri's rant without having to subscribe to Site?
the left better stay on course and denounce his taunting the same way they denounced taunting at saddam's hanging
Why? did Joe Biden write it?.......
It's the same as me telling someone "you are so unworthy, you deserve to be frenched kissed by Helen Thomas"
"Who does Number 2 work for?"
"I wish W would relay, thru private channels, a reply along the lines of "Too bad Osama died hiding in a cave, coward that he is."
I WISH BUSH WOULD READ ZAWAHIRI'S RANT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TONIGHT!! The DBM never posts these terror rants in entirety because it reminds the American people of what we are up against and it makes the dems look like fools and tools!!
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