Al Qaeda Claims To 'Break' U.S. Forces

Al Qaeda's No. 2 said the terror network's branch in Iraq had succeeded in "breaking the back" of the U.S. military with hundreds of suicide bombings, in a video posted Saturday that was the latest in a string of new messages by al Qaeda's leaders.

The video by Ayman al-Zawahiri, posted on an Islamic militant Web forum, came within the same week as an audiotape by al Qaeda's top leader Osama bin Laden and a video by the head of al Qaeda's branch in Iraq — a volley of messages by the group's most prominent figures.

Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian militant believed to be hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan, also denounced the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq as "traitors" and called on Muslims to rise up to "confront them."

He said that U.S. and British forces in Iraq had bogged down in Iraq and "have achieved nothing but loss, disaster and misfortune."

Al Qaeda in Iraq "alone has carried out 800 martyrdom operations (suicide attacks) in 3 years, besides the sacrifices of the other mujahedeen, and this is what has broken the back of American in Iraq," al-Zawahiri said.

The video was first obtained by IntelCenter, a U.S. contractor that provides counterterrorism intelligence services to the U.S. government

U.S. counterterrorism officials were aware of the video and analyzing it to glean whatever they could from the message, two officials said on condition of anonymity.

One of the officials, who would not be identified in compliance with office policy, said it was part of al Qaeda's ongoing propaganda blitz to demonstrate they remain relevant.

Bin Laden issued an audiotape on Sunday accusing the United States and Europe of supporting a "Zionist" war on Islam in what many analysts saw as an attempt to draw support from moderate Muslims.

Two days later, the head of al Qaeda in Iraq — Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — issued an audiotape in which he showed his face for the first time and denounced Iraq's attempts to form a new government. He called on Sunni Arabs to join the "jihad" or holy war in Iraq.

Al-Zawahiri's 16-minute video posted Saturday, entitled "A Message to the People of Pakistan," was mainly dedicated to blasting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, accusing him of undermining his own country to help the United States, Israel and India.

There was no date in the video, but al-Zawahiri mentioned a "recent" visit in early March by U.S. President George W. Bush to India and Pakistan. During the visit, Bush "gave a great push to India's nuclear program while handing out orders and instructions in Pakistan," al-Zawahiri said.

"Every soldier and officer in the Pakistani military should know that Musharraf is throwing them into the burner of civil war in return for the bribes he is getting from the United States," al-Zawahiri said

"For this reason I call on every soldier and officer in the Pakistani army to disobey the orders of his commanders to kill Muslims in Pakistan or Afghanistan or otherwise he will be confronted by the mujahedeen," he said.

In the video, the grey-bearded al-Zawahiri sat indoors, in front of a semi-translucent white curtain with rows of lace embroidery on it. Wearing a black turban and white traditional robes, he motioned often with his right hand, while his left arm remained largely still, as it has in other recent videos.

The video appeared hours after a U.S. State Department report Friday that claimed Leaders of al Qaeda had lost some control of the terror network last year due to the arrests and deaths of top operational planners.

In its annual report on worldwide terrorism, the department tallied about 11,000 terror attacks around the world last year, resulting in more than 14,600 deaths. That is almost a fourfold increase in attacks from 2004, though the agency attributes the change largely on new ways of tallying the incidents.

Al-Zawahiri, who last appeared in a video on March 4, has been the most vocal spokesman for al Qaeda. While bin Laden was silent for nearly a year — ending his silence with an audiotape in January.

Al-Zawahiri has frequently released messages, using videos while bin Laden only issued audiotapes. U.S. intelligence officials have said they believe the two are hiding separately.

It was not known what prompted the release of bin Laden's, al-Zawahiri's and al-Zarqawi's messages within the space of one week and to what degree they were coordinated.

Al-Zawahiri messages have closely followed bin Laden ones in the past, suggesting a degree of coordination. Al-Zarqawi's tapes, however, have often appeared more closely timed with events in Iraq.