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AL-QAEDA NO. 2 CALLS BUSH A FAILURE AND LIAR IN VIDEO STATEMENT Al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri condemned President Bush in a video statement released Friday, calling him a failure and a liar in the war on terror. ''Can't you be honest at least once in your life, and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq,'' al-Zawahri said in a portion of the video released by the Washington-based SITE Institute. Al-Zawahri also criticized Bush for continuing to imprison al-Qaeda leaders in prisons, including al-Qaeda No. 3 Khalid...

Al-Qaida marked the anniversary of the September 11 attacks Monday with an hour and a half video message summarizing the state of jihad, or holy war, around the world and slamming Iran for collaborating with the United States. In the short excerpts aired on the Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera, al-Qaida Number 2, Ayman al-Zawahri accused Iran working with US forces. "The guardian of Muslims in Teheran is cooperating with the Americans in occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and recognizes the two hireling governments there," he said. Zawahri also criticized the Shi'ites for not "issuing any fatwa (edict) inside or outside...

Excerpt - Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri calls for Pakistanis to support jihad in his first ever audio statement in English, which aired today on a Pakistani television station, according to IntelCenter, a Washington-based firm that tracks terrorism. ~ snip ~

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden's chief deputy warns that al-Qaida still has plans to target Western countries involved in the Iraq war in a new audiotape released Tuesday to answer questions posed by followers. The voice in the lengthy file posted on an Islamic Web site, could not be immediately confirmed as al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri's. But it sounded like past audiotapes from the terror leader. The tape is billed as the second installment of al-Zawahri's answers to more than 900 questions submitted on extremist Internet sites by al-Qaida supporters, critics and journalists in December. Asked by one...

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader claimed in an audiotape released Friday that five years of U.S. involvement in Iraq brought only defeat, and said President Bush will be forced to pass the problem to his successor. Ayman al-Zawahri alleged that by heeding advice of his top commanders in Iraq and guaranteeing a heavy American military presence after July, Bush was "covering up for the failure" of his Iraq policies. "If the American forces leave, they will lose everything. And if they stay, they will bleed to death," he argued. The authenticity of the 16-minute recording, posted on a...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri, rejecting criticism of attacks by the terror network's followers that have killed thousands, maintained Wednesday that it does not kill innocent people. His comment came during a 90-minute audio response that was billed as the first installment of answers to the more than 900 questions submitted on extremist Internet sites by al-Qaida supporters, critics and journalists in December. "We haven't killed the innocents, not in Baghdad, nor in Morocco, nor in Algeria, nor anywhere else," al-Zawahri said, according to a 46-page English transcript that accompanied the audio message posted on Web sites...

Qaida No. 2 Urges Attacks on Israel, USAl-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims in a new audiotape released Monday to strike Jewish and American targets in revenge for Israel's recent offensive in the Gaza Strip.      The al-Zawahri tape came on the heels of a message from Osama bin Laden, who called for a holy war to liberate the Palestinian territories. Together, the two messages appeared to be a more direct push by the terror network's leadership to use widespread anger over the Gaza violence to whip up support.......      "Muslims, today is your day. Strike the interests...

Al-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri is calling on Muslims to strike Israeli and American interests to avenge Israel's recent offensive in the Gaza Strip, according to a new audiotape. In the 4-minute tape, posted on a Web site Monday, al-Zawahri accuses Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak of helping Israel in its offensive by sealing off the border between Egypt and Gaza. He calls on Muslims to "strike the interests of the Jews, the Americans, and all of those who participated in the attack on the Muslims," and says attacks should not be limited to areas in Israel or the Palestinian territories....

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri called for attacks on Israeli and Western targets to avenge Israel's raids on the Gaza Strip, in an audio tape posted on the Internet on Monday. "O Muslims. Today is your day. Hit the interest of the Jews and the Americans and all those who participated in the aggression against Muslims," said the speaker on the tape who sounded like Zawahri. "Monitor the targets, collect the money, prepare the hardware, plan accurately and then attack," he added, without specifically naming any targets. "No one can say today that we should fight the Jews in Palestine...

CAIRO, Egypt — Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader wrote a book published Sunday on militant Islamic Web sites in which he slams radical militants who have disavowed armed struggle and turned their backs on violence. The 215-page book by Aymen Al Zawahiri is the latest salvo in an intellectual war between the founders of the terror group and the other Islamic militants, many of whom have become disillusioned with homicide bombings and attacks on civilians. "This message that I present to the reader today is the most difficult, if not the hardest I have written in my life," al-Zawahri wrote...

A senior al-Qaeda theologian has changed his tune and is calling on al-Qaeda members to put down their arms: In a serialized manifesto written from prison in Egypt, Sayyed Imam al-Sharif is blasting Osama bin Laden for deceiving the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and for insulting the Prophet Muhammad by comparing the September 11 attacks to the early raids of the Ansar warriors. The lapsed jihadist even calls for the formation of a special Islamic court to try Osama bin Laden and his old comrade Ayman al-Zawahri.

Al-Qaida's No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri warned of "traitors" among insurgents in Iraq and called on Iraqi Sunni Arab tribes to purge those who help the Americans in a new videotape posted Monday on the Web. Al-Zawahri's comments were aimed at undermining so-called "awakening councils" — the groups of Iraqi Sunni tribesmen that the U.S. military has backed to help fight al-Qaida in Iraq and its allies. Some Sunni insurgent groups have fought alongside American forces, and the U.S. military has touted the councils as a major factor in reducing violence in war-torn regions like Iraq's Anbar province. In the 90-minute...

CAIRO, Egypt — Al-Qaida's deputy leader denounced last month's Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md., as a "betrayal" of Palestinians in a new audio message posted Friday on an Islamic militant Web site. It was the first reaction by the terrorist network to the Mideast conference, sponsored by President Bush and attended by key Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Syria and Egypt, as well as Palestinian and Israeli leaders. The conference relaunched Palestinian-Israeli peace talks after a seven year hiatus — a key breakthrough in the region's core conflict. "The Annapolis meeting was held to turn Palestine into a Jewish...

Al-Zawahri rips US-led peace push Al-Zawahri says Mideast peace meeting a ‘betrayal’ of Palestinians CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida's No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri denounced last month's Mideast peace conference in the United States as a "betrayal" of Palestinians in a new audiotape posted Friday on an Islamic militant Web site. The posting was the first reaction by the terror network to the Mideast conference, sponsored by President Bush and attended by key Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Syria and Egypt, as well as Palestinian and Israeli leaders. The conference relaunched Palestinian-Israeli peace talks after a seven year hiatus — a key...

CAIRO, Egypt - An American member of al-Qaida threatened foreign diplomats and embassies across the Islamic world in a new video Sunday, saying they would targeted as "spy dens." The 1 hour, 17 minute video also featured a computer-animated recreation of a March 2006 suicide attack that killed U.S. diplomat David Foy in Karachi, Pakistan, and testimony from a man who claimed to be the bomber. "We shall continue to target you, at home and abroad, just as you target us, at home and abroad, and these spy dens and military command and control centers from which you plotted your...

Signal to Attack? Worries Over Latest al Qaeda Tape Share July 13, 2007 12:36 PM Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz Report: Signaltoattac_mn Fearing a possible coded signal to attack, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials are studying an unusual pattern of words in the latest audiotape from al Qaeda's No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri. On the tape, posted on the Internet Wednesday, Zawahri repeats one phrase three times at the end of his message. Have I not conveyed? Oh God be my witness. Have I not conveyed? Oh God be my witness. Have I not conveyed? Oh God be...

DUBAI - Al-Qaida second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri warned Americans of a reprisal "far worse than anything they have seen" if Washington did not change its policies toward Muslim states. "You are facing the Islamic rage ... what awaits you, should you press on (with current policies), is far worse than anything you have seen," Zawahri said in a video posted on the Internet on Wednesday. Leaders of the militant group which carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 aircraft attacks against U.S. cities often argue that its "terrorism" is justified as a way to change pro-Israel U.S. policies and to punish Washington...

Al Qaeda has sent a message to leaders of the Democratic party that credit for the defeat of congressional Republicans belongs to the terrorists. In a portion of the tape from al Qaeda No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri, made available only today, Zawahri says he has two messages for American Democrats. "The first is that you aren't the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost. Rather, the Mujahideen -- the Muslim Ummah's vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq -- are the ones who won, and the American forces and their Crusader allies are...

Brian Ross and Hoda Osman Report: Al Qaeda has sent a message to leaders of the Democratic party that credit for the defeat of congressional Republicans belongs to the terrorists. In a portion of the tape from al Qaeda No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri, made available only today, Zawahri says he has two messages for American Democrats. "The first is that you aren't the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost. Rather, the Mujahideen -- the Muslim Ummah's vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq -- are the ones who won, and the American...

ALARM - Zawahiri denounces the attitude of Hamas - the number two of Al-Qaida Ayman Al-Zawahiri denounced the attitude of the Palestinian movement Hamas, without naming it, criticizing its recognition of president Mahmoud Abbas and his participation in the elections, Wednesday in a video diffused by satellite chain Al-Jazira.

A religious school destroyed in Pakistani airstrikes was frequented by top Al-Qaeda militants including Ayman Al-Zawahiri and the alleged mastermind of the foiled London airliners attack, a senior security official said. Neither Zawahiri -- Osama bin Laden's Egyptian-born deputy -- nor Abu Obaida Al-Misri were in the Islamic school, or madrassa, at the time of the raid on Monday, the official said in a briefing to journalists. Thousands of tribesmen rallied earlier Tuesday saying the seminary in the Bajaur tribal agency near the Afghan border was harmless and that the 80 people who died in the helicopter raid were all...

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri will soon release a new message about the pope, President Bush and Sudan's troubled Darfur region, an Islamic Web site said Wednesday. A banner warning of the upcoming message was posted on the site, which frequently airs al-Qaida videos. Wednesday's notice did not specify whether the new message was a video, audiotape or text, but al-Zawahri usually releases videos. His latest came earlier this month, to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Al-Qaida released a string of videos for the anniversary, showing increasingly sophisticated production techniques in a...

Reuters - AL QAEDA'S ZAWAHRI, IN NEW VIDEO, SAYS ARAB GULF STATES, ISRAEL TO BE TARGETED

Saudi Wealth Fuels Global Jihadism Posted Oct. 27, 2003 By Kenneth R. Timmerman Generations of Muslims in the Middle East have been raised on the anti-Western, anti-Semitic theologies of Ayatollah Khomeini and in the Saudi Wahhabi system of madrassas (religious schools). This foundation set the stage for the rise of Osama bin Laden. Doaa 'Amer is a professional TV anchor who hosts Muslim Woman Magazine on IQRAA TV, a satellite channel broadcasting throughout the Arab world. As she tells it, her job is to educate the next generation of children to be "true Muslims." Readers accustomed to hearing Islam described...

Five Years Later, We're Still Not Safe -Full Story- In the five years since terrorists flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Americans have accepted inconvenience, sacrificed personal liberties and paid billions of dollars for a security clampdown that touches virtually every aspect of their lives.And we're still not safe.A close examination of the federal government's homeland security effort shows that there have been major accomplishments since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. But it also reveals how vulnerable the nation remains to catastrophe. Hunt for bin Laden Is Chasing Shadows and Raising Tensions Homegrown...

A banner was placed on multiple jihadi websites this evening advertising the release "soon" of a new video from Al Qaeda second in command Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri. The banner and accompanying post indicate that the video will feature Zawahiri along with Azzam the American in an "Invitation to Islam". The banner is of the style and format consistent with previous releases from As Sahab. We will continue to monitor the websites and post the video as soon as it becomes available.

Al Qaeda Sanctioned Plot Updated: 13:47, Thursday August 17, 2006 The London terror plot was sanctioned by al Qaeda's No2, Ayman al Zawahri, according to Pakistani intelligence.More to follow... 

Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al Zawahri called on Muslims to join forces and fight what he called the Zionist-crusader war against Lebanon, the Palestinians and other Muslim nations. "Oh Muslims everywhere, I call on you to fight and become martyrs in the war against the Zionists and the Crusaders," Zawahri said in a video statement aired by Al Jazeera television on Thursday.

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden praised slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the "lion of holy war" in a new videotape posted on the Internet on Friday. The 19-minute message shows an old still photo of bin Laden in a split-screen next to images of al-Zarqawi taken from a previous video. A voice resembling bin Laden's narrates a tribute to the Jordanian-born militant, who was killed in a June 7 airstrike northeast of Baghdad. "Our Islamic nation was surprised to find its knight, the lion of jihad (holy war), the man of determination and will, Abu...

DUBAI, June 23 (Reuters) - Al Jazeera television said on Friday it would air a videotape from al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al Zawahri. The station said that in the tape, Zawahri expresses his condolences for the slain leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and attacks Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Iraq's Interior Ministry responded on Saturday to the al-Qaida's No. 2 leader who issued a video saying that hundreds of suicide bombings in Iraq have "broken the back" of the U.S. military. The ministry said in a statement that a total of 500 out of 800 suicide operations that Zawahri mentioned in his videotape were carried out against Iraqi civilians in mosques, churches, popular markets, schools and government buildings, aiming at sparking sectarian strife among Iraqis. The statement said that more than 100 suicide operations were carried out against Iraqi security forces, while some 104 suicide operations were foiled by...

Al-Qaida’s No. 2 says in Net video that America’s back has been broken Al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said Iraqi insurgents have broken America's back in three years of war in Iraq, according to a video posted on the Internet early Saturday. "Al-Qaida in Iraq alone has carried out 800 martyrdom operations in three years, besides the victories of the other mujahideen. And this is what has broken the back of America in Iraq," Zawahri said in the video posted on an Islamist Web site. “America, Britain and their allies have achieved nothing but losses, disasters and misfortunes,” the Egyptian...

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged all Muslims to support insurgents fighting in Iraq "for the dignity of Islam" and said the "enemy has begun to falter," according to a video posted Thursday on the Internet. The video was dated with an Islamic month corresponding to November 2005 - and al-Zawahri mentions an Oct. 23 earthquake that hit Pakistan and Afghanistan. But it appeared to be the first time the 28-minute video has been made public. In the footage, al-Zawahri appears sitting, wearing a white turban and a gray robe with a microphone pinned to it....

Al-Qaida Figure Backs Iraqi Insurgents Top al-Qaida Figure Ayman Al-Zawahri Urges Support for Iraqi Insurgents in Video The Associated Press (snipped) CAIRO, Egypt - No. 2 al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri praised insurgents in Iraq, particularly Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and called on all Muslims to support them in a video posted Thursday on the Internet. The video was dated with an Islamic month corresponding to November 2005 and al-Zawahri mentions an Oct. 23 earthquake that hit Pakistan and Afghanistan. But it appeared to be the first time the 28-minute video has been made public. It was not clear why the video...

Al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri praised insurgents in Iraq particularly Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and called on all Muslims to support them in a video posted Thursday on the Internet. In the footage, al-Zawahri appears sitting, wearing a white turban and a grey robe with a microphone pinned to it. An automatic weapon is leaning against a brown backdrop behind him. He called on Muslims to support his ''beloved brother'' Al-Zarqawi, who heads al-Qaida in Iraq. ''I have lived with him up close, and have seen nothing but good from him,'' al-Zawahri said. ''And to my brother mujahedeen in...

CAIRO, Egypt -- Hamas officials shrugged off the support offered by al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, saying Sunday the Palestinian militant group has a different ideology than the terror network and won election through a moderate approach to Islam. In a video aired Saturday by Al-Jazeera, Ayman al-Zawahri called for jihad, or holy war, to reclaim Palestinian lands and implied al-Qaida's support for Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel despite international pressure since the militant Islamic group swept parliamentary elections in January. A Hamas official in Gaza, speaking on condition of anonymity because the movement did not want to formally respond to...

Al Qaeda's Zawahri calls for strikes against West By Firouz Sedarat Sat Mar 4, 11:20 PM ET DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims to attack the West in an audio tape posted on the Internet on Saturday, urging similar strikes as those against New York, London and Madrid in recent years. In a video of his remarks aired by Al Jazeera television, Zawahri also urged the Islamist militant group Hamas not to recognize peace deals signed by the Palestinian Authority with Israel. He also called on Muslims to boycott countries where satirical cartoons of...

Terrorists are threatening to blow up Alaska oil pipelines. Via Foxnews Alert. Fox said they were going to take guns and shoot them?

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- A U.S. missile strike on a Pakistani village last month killed a relative of al-Qaida's No. 2 leader and a terror suspect wanted by America, Pakistan's leader said Saturday, breaking weeks of silence about the identities of the men. The nighttime attack - which also killed a dozen residents, including women and children - outraged Pakistanis, who complained it violated the nation's sovereignty. Until now, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf had only said "foreigners" died in the Jan. 13 strike in the northwestern town of Bajur, near the Afghan border. But he provided more details Saturday while...

  CIA-Backed Team Used Brutal Means To Break Up Terrorist Cell in Albania By ANDREW HIGGINS and CHRISTOPHER COOPER Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL     TIRANA, Albania -- Ahmed Osman Saleh stepped off a minibus here in the Albanian capital in July 1998 and caught what would be his last glimpse of daylight for three days. As he paid the driver, Albanian security agents slipped a white cloth bag over Mr. Saleh's head, bound his limbs with plastic shackles and tossed him into the rear of a hatchback vehicle. Supervising the operation from a nearby car were ...

The U.S. Predator strike inside Pakistan's border area, aimed at al-Zawahri's possible stay in a village may or may not have missed its target. But the missile attack triggered a series of political explosions in the region. In short, the issues are out. I addressed them in a series of interviews over the weekend. Here is a summary:

The Israeli assassins caught Abu Jihad in his study. They left the chief strategist of the Palestinian uprising with 170 bullets in his body. Over the next two decades, however, the movement only grew stronger, and Israel bled even more. It's called "decapitation," and a missile strike in Pakistan has raised the question anew: Would eliminating Osama bin Laden and deputy Ayman al-Zawahri deal a mortal blow to the al-Qaida terror network? "Decapitation just fuels the movement itself," says Jenna Jordan, a University of Chicago scholar who has closely studied the historical record of such antiterrorist tactics.

Pakistani intelligence sources on Thursday identified three of four al Qaeda members believed to have been killed by a U.S. airstrike last week, though they have yet to recover the bodies. One of the dead was said to be Abdul Rehman Al-Misri al Maghribi, a son-in-law of al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri. Another was Midhat Murfi al Sayid Omer, an expert in explosives and poisons who carried a $5 million U.S. reward on his head. The third man named was Abu Obaidah al Misri, al Qaeda's chief of operations

The FBI anticipates performing DNA tests on the victims of a purported CIA airstrike in Pakistan that apparently targeted al-Qaida's second-in-command, a law enforcement official said Saturday. At least 17 people were killed in the airstrike on Damadola, near the Afghan border. Senior Pakistani officials told The Associated Press that the CIA acted on erroneous information in launching the attack early Friday, and that Ayman al-Zawahri was not among the dead. In Washington, Pentagon, State Department, National Security Council and intelligence officials did not immediately provide additional details about the attack. DNA tests to determine the victims' identities are expected...

ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. airstrike on Pakistan village targeted al Qaeda's second-in-command, U.S. intelligence sources say, but Pakistani officials said Ayman al-Zawahri was not there and condemned the attack. The strike near the Afghan border on Friday killed at least 18 people, including women and children, and three houses were destroyed, according to residents of Damadola village in Bajaur tribal area. CIA-operated unmanned drones were believed to have been used in the attack, U.S. sources said. A Pakistani intelligence official said four missiles had been fired. Pakistan condemned the airstrike and summoned U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Information Minister Sheikh...

Pakistan on Saturday condemned a deadly airstrike on a border village that reportedly targeted al-Qaida's second-in-command, but did not directly blame the United States for the attack. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a news conference the government wanted "to assure the people we will not allow such incidents to reoccur." He said the government had no information about Ayman al-Zawahri. The statement came after U.S. networks, citing unnamed American intelligence officials, reported that a CIA-operated Predator drone aircraft carried out the missile strike Friday in the Bajur tribal region of northwestern Pakistan. At least 17 people were killed, and...

(adds U.S., Pakistan comments, background, changes spelling to Zawahri to conform to Reuters style) WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A U.S. airstrike in Pakistan targeted al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, but it was unclear if he had been killed, U.S. media quoted U.S. and Pakistani sources as saying on Friday.

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Osama bin Laden's deputy, in a new tape that surfaced Sunday, urged all Muslims to take up arms and said their refusal to join the fight against "the Cross and Zionism" was a "malignant illness" that would only lead to the defeat of militant Islam. Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahri said the global Islamic community had "no hope for victory" until all Muslims signed on to the al-Qaida-led jihad. "As long as this malignant illness continues to survive within us, there is no hope for victory and there can only be more defeats, tragedies, disasters and betrayals," al-Zawahri...