New Video Released With Al Qaeda #2 Ayman al-Zawahiri

By Andrew Cochran

The new video, promised earlier this week, is out, in which Zawahiri attacks Pope Benedict XVI and President Bush a "lying failure" and "deceitful charlatan." You can see it thanks to Laura Mansfield. Rita Katz of SITE Institute has a one-minute clip for non-subscribers, the picture below, and this analysis: "As-Sahab, al-Qaeda’s multimedia production arm, issued today, Friday, September 29, 2006, a 17:51 minute video speech featuring Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri and titled: “Bush, the Pope of the Vatican, Darfur, and the Crusader Wars”. He appears in two scenes: one, subtitled in English, with an office-setup background with a lamp, flag bearing “No God, but Allah”, and a cannon; the other is without a background, and depicts Zawahiri dressed entirely in white, without subtitles. To U.S. President George W. Bush, Zawahiri questions: “why don't you tell them how many million citizens of America and it's allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people’s sons in order to increase your profits?” He also addresses the capture of Khalid Shaikh Muhammad and questions that if it helped in the "war on terror" then “why are your troops retreating in secrete from the south and east of Afghanistan?... Bush...be aware that the liberation of our captives is a debt on our shoulders which we must fulfill”."

Zawahiri also names other important captured Al Qaeda leaders: "You’ve captured Ramzi Yousef, Umar Abd al-Rahman, Wali Khan, Ibn al-Shayhk, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Khalid al-Shaykh, Abu al-Faraj al-Libi..." This finishes a busy month of September for Al Qaeda central, which began with the Zawahiri video with American Adam Gadahn, then two 9/11-related videos, one with Zawahiri and another video with clips of Osama Bin Laden.

Picture courtesy of SITE Institute:

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