In a new video, al-Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, mocked President George W. Bush as a "failure" in the war on terror, called him a "butcher" for killing innocent Pakistanis in a miscarried airstrike and chastised the US for rejecting Osama bin Laden's offer of a truce.
Al-Zawahri, wearing white robes and a white turban and speaking in a forceful and angry voice, also threatened a new attack in the US -- "God willing, on your own land."
The video, broadcast on al-Jazeera TV on Monday, a day before Bush delivers his State of the Union address, provided the first concrete evidence that al-Zawahri was still alive after the Jan. 13 airstrike in eastern Pakistan that targeted him but killed four other al-Qaeda leaders and 13 villagers.
The message came on the heels of a Jan. 19 audiotape by bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader's first tape in more than a year. Bin Laden said his followers were preparing an attack in the US and offered the Americans a conditional truce, though he did not spell out terms.
A US counterterrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in compliance with office policy, said there is no reason to doubt the authenticity of the al-Zawahri video, which US intelligence officials were analyzing.
The counterterrorism official noted the video was disseminated quickly, demonstrating al-Zawahri's ability to get his message out even faster than bin Laden. That suggests the two are not hiding together and bin Laden may be in a more remote location than his deputy, the official said.
"The al-Qaeda leadership is clearly on the run and under a lot of pressure," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in response to the video.
Al-Zawahri said in the video that he had a number of messages in the wake of the airstrike.
In one message, he invited Bush to convert to Islam.
"If you accept, you will become a brother in our faith and God will forgive you your sins," the al-Jazeera newsreader quoted him as saying. The invitation was not in the excerpts aired by the Arab satellite station.
He said the airstrike in Pakistan by an unmanned Predator craft armed with missiles targeted himself and four of his "brothers" in al-Qaeda. Instead, he said, it killed 18 civilians -- "men, women, and children" -- and he called Bush "the butcher of Washington."
"Bush, you are not only defeated and a liar, but, with God's help and might, a failure. You are a curse on your own nation and you have brought and will bring them only catastrophes and tragedies," he said.
"Bush, do you know where I am? I am among the Muslim masses, enjoying God's blessing of their support, care, generosity and protection," al-Zawahri said.
He said he had a message "to the American people, who are drowning in illusions. I tell you that Bush and his gang are shedding your blood and wasting your money in failed adventures."?
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