Qaeda Deputy Taunts Bush for 'Failure' in Airstrike - New York Times

Qaeda Deputy Taunts Bush for 'Failure' in Airstrike - New York Times

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 30 — More than a week after the Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri resurfaced in an audiotape posted on the Internet, Al Jazeera on Monday broadcast a video of Mr. Zawahiri berating the United States for a bombing attack on a place where he had been suspected of being, and threatening further attacks on the United States. Video Report

Mr. Zawahiri, shown wearing white robes and a white turban, said the Jan. 13 airstrike in the northeastern Pakistan village of Damadola had killed only "innocents," and called President Bush a "butcher" and a "failure" for the attack. (true- and dumb to bomb a country that was an ally)

He said the United States had lost its chance for a truce offered by Osama bin Laden in an audio recording broadcast Jan. 19 by Al Jazeera, an Arab satellite network.

"Butcher of Washington, you are not only defeated and a liar, but also a failure," he said, speaking of Mr. Bush. "You are a curse on your own nation and you have brought and will bring them only catastrophes and tragedies."

An American counterterrorism official said that the videotape "demonstrates that Al Qaeda's propaganda apparatus is still functioning."

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the rules of his government office, called Mr. Zawahiri's message "an attempt to reassure the Qaeda rank and file that he's still alive."

Thirteen villagers were killed in the strike, setting off widespread protests in Pakistan. American officials say that several Qaeda figures were among those killed, but have not determined who they were.

"The videotape proves that Ayman is closely following what is happening around him." said Mohammad Salah, Cairo bureau chief of the pan-Arab daily newspaper Al Hayat, an expert on Islamist groups.

Though the message was aired on the eve of President Bush's State of the Union address, the intelligence official said that was not necessarily intentional. Al Qaeda "operates on its own schedule, and I wouldn't read too much into the timing," he said. duh-bu-ya