Speaking of Al Qaeda, Al Jazeera is playing a new Ayman Al-Zawahri video, in which he taunts the US:
Al-Qaida number two Ayman al-Zawahri has forecast a US “defeat” in Iraq and Afghanistan, in a videotape aired on Aljazeera television.
“The American defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan has become just a question of time, God willing” he said in the tape telecast on Thursday.
“In the two countries, the Americans are between two fires: if they remain there they will bleed to death, and if they withdraw they will have lost everything.”
The Mujahidin are in a strong position in Afghanistan and have turned US plans in Iraq “head over heels”, al-Zawahri said.
Hiding
In Afghanistan, the Mujahidin have driven US forces to “hide in their trenches”, he said.
Al-Zawahri, the right-hand man of al-Qaida leader Usama bin Ladin, was seen wearing a white turban with a machine gun at his side in the videotape.
In the tape, shown two days before the third anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, he said, “east and south Afghanistan have become an open arena for the Mujahidin. The enemy is limited to the capitals.”
Defence
“The Americans are hiding in their trenches and refuse to come out to face the Mujahidin, as the Mujahidin shell them, fire on them and cut roads off around them,” he said. “Their defence is only to bomb by air.”
