Ayman al-Zawahri has released a new video in which he claims that the U.S. is failing in Iraq. Watch for the full text here; in the meantime, we’ll have to make do with press accounts:
Al-Qaida’s No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri said in a new video posted Monday that the United States is trying to hide its failures in Iraq and warned that the mujahedeen there are increasing in strength.
“We are seeing a triple failure for the Americans in Iraq,” al-Zawahri said in the 90-minute videotape. “No matter how much the gigantic propaganda machine in America tries to deceive the people, the reality is stronger and worse than all the deceptions.”
He said U.S. forces were “defeated and looking for a way out,” and Iraqi forces were unable to keep security.
Al-Zawahri denounced Sunni Arab tribal forces that the U.S. has backed in the fight against insurgent groups, calling them “traitors” to whom the Americans “pour oceans of bribes.”
“The reports from Iraq tell of the growth of the mujahedeen and the collapse of the Americans’ circumstances,” al-Zawahri said.
Actually, all reports from Iraq tell the opposite story: al Qaeda being defeated, increasing security–General Ray Odierno said today that the level of violence is the lowest since 2004–and Iraqis turning against the terrorists with near unanimity.
What is striking about the new video, at least as reported so far, is how little Zawahiri apparently has to say. With no successes to boast of, he is reduced to simply denying reality, sort of like Nancy Pelosi. It’s too late for al Qaeda to back off; the organization chose to make Iraq the central front in its war on civilization, and it will have to live with the consequences of defeat.
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