Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
DUBAI, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri
praised Islamic militants in Iraq, saying they were forcing U.S. troops to
look for a way out of the Arab country, according to an audio tape posted on
the Internet on Saturday.
It was not immediately clear whether segments of the tape -- dated
September 2005 -- had been issued earlier, and why it was posted on an
Islamist Web site so long after it was recorded.
"If it were not for the sacrifices of the mujahideen in Iraq ...
there would have been no bold jihadi resistance there. It is that resistance
which stabs America every day and makes it scream and search feverishly for
a way out of its predicament there."
The speaker, who sounded like earlier recordings attributed to
Zawahri, called on Muslims to support a holy war in Afghanistan and the
Palestinian territories as well as an al Qaeda campaign against Saudi
Arabia's "puppet rulers".
"Were it not for the mujahideen's confrontation of Israel and its
agents -- our rulers -- Israel would have now expanded to many times its
current size.
"If it were not for the jihad movement against puppet rulers the
corruption of these rulers would have worsened and they would have sought to
eradicate Islam," he said.
In a video interview posted on an Islamist Web site on Wednesday,
Zawahri urged militants to attack oil targets in Muslim states and said al
Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was still alive and leading the group's war on
the West.
Al Jazeera television said it had aired segments of that tape in
September but excluded some sections, including the threat to oil targets.
Bin Laden and Zawahri have eluded capture since U.S.-led forces
toppled Afghanistan's Taliban government in 2001.
praised Islamic militants in Iraq, saying they were forcing U.S. troops to
look for a way out of the Arab country, according to an audio tape posted on
the Internet on Saturday.
It was not immediately clear whether segments of the tape -- dated
September 2005 -- had been issued earlier, and why it was posted on an
Islamist Web site so long after it was recorded.
"If it were not for the sacrifices of the mujahideen in Iraq ...
there would have been no bold jihadi resistance there. It is that resistance
which stabs America every day and makes it scream and search feverishly for
a way out of its predicament there."
The speaker, who sounded like earlier recordings attributed to
Zawahri, called on Muslims to support a holy war in Afghanistan and the
Palestinian territories as well as an al Qaeda campaign against Saudi
Arabia's "puppet rulers".
"Were it not for the mujahideen's confrontation of Israel and its
agents -- our rulers -- Israel would have now expanded to many times its
current size.
"If it were not for the jihad movement against puppet rulers the
corruption of these rulers would have worsened and they would have sought to
eradicate Islam," he said.
In a video interview posted on an Islamist Web site on Wednesday,
Zawahri urged militants to attack oil targets in Muslim states and said al
Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was still alive and leading the group's war on
the West.
Al Jazeera television said it had aired segments of that tape in
September but excluded some sections, including the threat to oil targets.
Bin Laden and Zawahri have eluded capture since U.S.-led forces
toppled Afghanistan's Taliban government in 2001.