Terror Chief Mocks Bush's Iraq Plan

Al Qaeda's deputy leader mocked President Bush's plan to send 21,000 more troops to Iraq, challenging him to send "the entire army" and vowing insurgents will defeat them in a new videotape, a U.S. group that tracks al Qaeda messages said Monday.

The Washington-based Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Institute said it had intercepted the video from Ayman al-Zawahri, which had not yet been posted on Islamic militant Web sites, where his messages are usually posted. SITE did not elaborate on how it received the message, and staff reached at SITE would not comment.

In the video, al-Zawahri said it was the "duty" of all Muslims to take up arms against the enemies of Islam or support those who do, and he vowed that the U.S. strategy for Iraq, outlined by Bush in a Jan. 9 speech, was doomed to fail.

"I ask him, why send 20,000 (troops) only — why not send 50 or 100 thousand? Aren't you aware that the dogs of Iraq are pining for your troops' dead bodies?" al-Zawahri said in an excerpt of the video released by SITE.

"So send your entire army to be annihilated at the hands of the mujahideen (holy warriors) to free the world from your evil," he said, "because Iraq, land of the Caliphate and Jihad, is able to bury ten armies like yours, with Allah's help and power."

The video showed al-Zawahri, wearing a white turban, in front of a black backdrop. In the excerpt — just over 1 1/2 minutes from a 14 minute tape — the Egyptian militant appeared more sedate than in past videos, not waging his finger as he often does.

The message was the first reaction from al Qaeda's leadership to the new Iraq strategy. The U.S. has said the extra troops aim to crack down on al Qaeda fighters and other Sunni Arab insurgents in Iraq, as well as Shiite militiamen blamed in the country's spiraling sectarian violence.

Al-Zawahri, the deputy of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, also contended that the al Qaeda and Taliban were regaining control in Afghanistan.

"Among his (Mr. Bush's) ravings is that he has deprived al Qaeda of a safe haven in Afghanistan," he said in the video excerpt. The entire world bears witness to his naked, barefaced lie, because al Qaeda and the Taliban under the command of the Commander of the Faithful Mulla Muhammad Omar are the ones who have deprived America of safe haven in Afghanistan."

There was no immediate independent confirmation of the video's authenticity. The SITE Institute is an independent group that conducts counterterrorism research and has posted al Qaeda videos in the past.

Al-Zawahri's mention of President Bush's plan underlined the increasingly fast speed with which the terror network comments on events in the news. In the past, new videos would often refer to events dating back months before the message's appearance.

It was the third message by al-Zawahri in just over a month. In an audiotape posted on the Web on Jan. 5, he urged Somalia's Islamic militants to carry out suicide attacks on Ethiopian troops fighting in their country.

In the latest video, he vowed that mujahideen would "break (the) backs" of the Ethiopians in Somalia, according to a full transcript of the tape released by SITE.

Al-Zawahri addressed Americans, saying they must "accept the facts of what is happening on the ground, and reject the fantasies with which Bush tries to deceive you."

Al-Zawahri at one point turns his comments to American people, reminding of past offers to reaching an "understanding" with Muslims, according to SITE. He also warns that if they continue to follow the policies of Mr. Bush and his administration, then peace is impossible.

"You must honestly try to reach a mutual understanding with the Muslims, for then, and only then, you might enjoy security," he said. "Security is a shared destiny, 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. This is the correct equation."

Al-Zawahri repeated a call he makes often in his messages, for Muslims to turn against secular and nationalist leaders and fight for Islam. He denounced in particular Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"It is the duty of every Muslim today to bear arms, or to serve and support those who are bearing arms," he said. "Every Muslim today is directly responsible for defending Islam, Islams homeland, and the Islamic Nation."

He said Muslims should try to free Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian militant cleric imprisoned in the United States after being convicted in a plot to attack New York landmarks. He also warned that "Americans must expect to pay the price for everything they have done to" detainees held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Al-Zawahri repeated his condemnation of a U.N.-brokered cease-fire that ended the war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla group in August, calling acceptance of the ceasefire "an historic fall which cannot be justified or excused," according to the SITE transcript.