New Video of Al Qaeda #2 Ayman al-Zawahiri: Warning & "Deal" (with video link)

By Andrew Cochran

Laura Mansfield and Rita Katz's SITE Institute report that a new video of Ayman al-Zawahiri will be released soon. Mansfield: "The new video, entitled "The Correct Equation", features Zawahiri in dark robe and white turban against a dark background and contains English subtitles. In the video, Zawahiri specifically addresses President Bush's plan for Iraq. He also specifically addresses the American people, saying "Security is a shared destiny. If we are secure, you might be secure, and if we are safe, you might be safe. And if we are struck and killed, you will definitely - with Allah's permission - be struck and killed". The video also calls for the release of Al Qaeda members in American prisons, specifically mentioning the Blind Sheikh, Dr. Omar Abdul Rahman. The video appears timed to coincide with the State of the Union Address." SITE Institute: "Zawahiri taunts Bush, questioning: “why send 20,000 only - why not send 50 or 100 thousand? Aren't you aware that the dogs of Iraq are pining for your troops' dead bodies?.” He then invites the American President to send the entire American Army to Iraq as he believes the Mujahideen are capable of destroying the equivalent of ten armies."

UPDATE: Laura Mansfield has made the full tape with English translations available from her website (large Windows Media file).

This appears to be another in a long line of tapes in which Al Qaeda leaders concurrently warn the West and offer a mutual security "deal" - a complete lie and impossibility, of course, but Al Qaeda will continue to make the "offer." Daveed Gartenstein-Ross posted about this strategy in December, after al-Zawahiri used the Iraq Study Group report to offer another "deal."

Picture of al-Zawahiri courtesy of SITE Institute

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