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Al-Qaeda predicts US defeat
13/01/2007 21:28 - (SA)
Dubai - The Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda predicted on Saturday the "defeat" of US military forces in Iraq, in its first reaction to US President George W Bush's new strategy to end the ongoing conflict.
In a statement posted on the internet, it said Bush's change of tack - including 21 500 troop reinforcements - "is only a prelude to news of a defeat and a flight from the hell of Iraq".
"Increasing the number of troops will not in any way change the nature of the battle," added the statement, signed by "a spokesperson of the Islamic State of Iraq" - an entity declared by al-Qaeda in Iraq in mid-October.
"Reinforcements in the past had no effect and did not swing the battle in favour of the Crusaders."
The statement was seen by AFP on Islamist websites, but there was no way to firmly establish its authenticity.
Al-Qaeda is the global Islamist militant network led by Osama bin Laden.
It is held responsible for the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001 that prompted the Bush administration to launch its transnational "war on terror".
In a recording posted on the internet in mid-December, the head of an al-Qaeda-dominated group in Iraq offered to give US troops a month to withdraw without fear of attack.
Saturday's statement said the Islamic State of Iraq was "at its best and in good control of the situation".
It continued: "The media frenzy surrounding the security plan for Baghdad and the new Bush strategy will change nothing..."
"The enemy is trying to save face at least in Baghdad; the security plans for Iraq from now on are limited to Baghdad."
Bush's new Iraq strategy, announced on Wednesday in Washington, centres on putting more US troops in Baghdad to wrestle control of the capital from a stubborn insurgency.
It also calls for the Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi government to assume control of all Iraqi provinces by November or risk losing US support.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Malaki has separately announced a security plan for Baghdad, which is expected to be implemented in the coming days.
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