US forces 'near defeat', says bin Laden's deputy
Osama bin Laden’s deputy proclaimed the United States would ultimately be defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan, in a videotape broadcast that appeared to be a rallying call for al-Qaida before the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
“The defeat of America in Iraq and Afghanistan has become a matter of time, with God’s help,” Ayman al-Zawahri said on the tape, which was broadcast yesterday by the pan-Arab television station Al-Jazeera.
“The Americans in both countries are between two fires, if they continue they bleed to death and if they withdraw, they lose everything.”
A bearded al-Zawahri, wearing glasses, a white turban and a black vest over a white shirt, spoke looking into the camera. An assault weapon was leaning on the wall behind him.
US forces face fierce resistance in parts of Afghanistan and across Iraq, but military commanders insist they maintain the upper hand against rebels in both countries.
Al-Qaida has issued a bin Laden audio tape in the two previous years on September 10, so yesterday’s video fits a pattern leading up to the attack anniversary, a US intelligence official says.
If the speaker on the video is al-Zawahri, it will be the first time since December 2001 that bin Laden’s number two has appeared in a video in which he is speaking and delivering a message, although he was said to have made a statement in an audiotape on June 11.
Al-Zawahri was also shown making a limited statement on a videotape on April 15 2002, but US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at the time that the material appeared to be outdated.
Experts were investigating what yesterday’s message might be seeking to convey and whether the videotape is actually an older audiotape, now joined with its images.
US officials have noted that some tape releases have preceded terrorist attacks. In April 2003, a taped voice thought to be bin Laden’s exhorted Muslims to rise up against Saudi Arabia and called for suicide attacks against US and British interests. Suicide bombers struck Western housing compounds in the Saudi capital on May 12, killing 26 people.
An expert on Islamic militants said al-Qaida’s “annual message” was meant to show the terror network had “no problems and, as al-Zawahri says, they see themselves as winning”.
“The message every year has a different meaning, but always makes the point to prove their existence and the ability to continue,” said Dia’a Rashwan of Cairo. “They are saying they can still make tapes and videotapes and say whatever they want.”
