Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, yesterday 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 US 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.
PHOTO: AFP
"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 mujahidin so that the whole world will be rid of your wickedness," he said.
Bush announced on Jan. 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 was expected to be the focus of his annual State of the Union speech yesterday.
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."
Zawahiri also lashed out at Bush over the conflict in Somalia, saying Islamist fighters would "break the back" of Ethiopian forces backing government troops.
"I announce the good news to Bush: he has bogged down his Ethiopian slaves in a real disaster in Somalia. The mujahidin 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," he said.
In a previous message, 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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