Zarqawi: Bush faces defeat

2005-06-19 21:53

Dubai - The Islamist militant group of Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, vowed that US President George W Bush would face defeat in Iraq, according to a statement published on Sunday.

"What freedom are you talking about ... Bush, the Crusader dog? You can only fool yourself. Your lies do not fool any sensible person," said the organisation of al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers, in a statement whose authenticity could not be confirmed.

In his weekly radio address on Saturday, Bush defended the conflict in Iraq by telling Americans the United States was forced into war because of the September 11, 2001 terror strikes.

"These foreign terrorists violently oppose the rise of a free and democratic Iraq ... our troops are fighting these terrorists in Iraq so you will not have to face them here at home," he said.

"You and the Crusaders have a rendezvous with defeat, which you are witnessing every day in the land of the two rivers (Iraq)," said the Zarqawi group in a statement signed by Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, head of the group's information department.

"We are the free men and you are the slave of life, lies and Satan ... Taste the hell of the mujahedeen (Muslim fighters). Live in fear," said the group linked to the al-Qaeda network blamed for the September 11 attacks.

"The organisation of al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers will continue the jihad (holy war)," it said.

The US military said on Thursday it had captured a top military aide to Zarqawi known as Abu Talha in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who was reportedly wounded recently, has a $25m US bounty on his head. His group is blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Iraq.

- SAPA