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Al-Qaeda deputy mocks Bush
23/01/2007 09:15 - (SA)
Dubai - Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, on Tuesday
defiantly mocked US President George W Bush's plan to send extra
troops to Iraq, saying he should send his entire army to be
annihilated.
In an online video message, Osama bin Laden's deputy also
accused the United States of being behind the deployment of
Ethiopian troops in Somalia and vowed that Islamist forces would
"break the back" of the Ethiopians.
"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?"
Zawahiri said in the 15-minute recording.
"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 mujahedin so that the whole world
will be rid of your wickedness."
Poked fun at Bush plans
Bush announced on January 10 that he would send an additional
21 500 troops to Iraq, in a bid to quell deadly sectarian violence
in the war-wracked country.
The US president has waged an aggressive public relations
campaign over the past week to warn against pulling out of Iraq
hastily, and Iraq is expected to be the focus of his annual state
of the union speech on Tuesday.
But Zawahiri repeatedly poked fun at Bush's plan for Iraq, as
well as 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 10 of your armies," he said.
"It is al-Qaeda and the Taliban, led by the emir of the
believers, Mullah Mohammed Omar (may God save him), 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," the
al-Qaeda official said.
"Today, the duty of every Muslim is to bear arms or to support
and serve those who bear the arms."
Somalia
Zawahiri also lashed out at Bush over the conflict in Somalia,
saying Islamist fighters would "break the back" of Ethiopian forces
backing government troops in the Horn of Africa nation.
"I announce the good news to Bush: he has bogged down his
Ethiopian slaves in a real disaster in Somalia. The Mujahedin will
break their back," Zawahiri said.
"The Americans, who encouraged them on to their ruin and are
giving them orders from afar so that they die in their place, will
not even shed tears for them."
In a previous message put online on January 5, Zawahiri called
on the Somali Islamists to be inspired by guerrilla actions in Iraq
and Afghanistan 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.
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