Al Qaeda Deputy Defends Iraqi Insurgents

Ayman Al-Zawahiri Urges Muslims To Support Islamic State Of Iraq's War Against U.S. Military

(CBS/AP)  Al Qaeda's deputy leader sought to bolster the terror network's main arm in Iraq in a new video released Thursday, calling on Muslims to rally behind it at a time when the group is on the defensive, faced with U.S. offensives and splits with other insurgent groups.

Ayman al-Zawahiri defended the Islamic State of Iraq — the insurgent umbrella group headed by al Qaeda — against critics among Islamic militant groups, saying it was a vanguard for fighting off the U.S. military and eventually establishing a "caliphate" of Islamic rule across the region.

Al-Zawahiri, the top deputy of Osama bin Laden, called on Muslims to follow a two-pronged strategy: work at home to topple "corrupt" Arab regimes and join al Qaeda's "jihad," or holy war, in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia to fight and train "to prepare for the next jihad."

The Egyptian militant did not mention last week's failed car bombing attempts in Britain, which British authorities are investigating for al Qaeda links. That suggested the video, posted Thursday on an Islamic militant Web site, was made before the events in London and Glasgow.

Al Qaeda's declaration of the Islamic State of Iraq last year was a dramatic move aimed at staking out its leadership of Iraq's insurgency. Allying itself with several smaller Iraqi Sunni insurgent groups, it presented the Islamic State as an alternative government within Iraq, claiming to hold territory.

The move quickly met resistance. Some Islamic extremist clerics in the Arab world said it was too soon to declare an Islamic state because the Islamic law qualifications were not yet met and argued that a true Islamic state is not viable while there are still U.S. forces in Iraq.

Several large Iraqi Sunni insurgent groups publicly denounced al Qaeda, saying its fighters were killing theirs and pressuring them to join the Islamic State. One group, the 1920 Revolution Brigades, has begun overtly cooperating with U.S. forces and Sunni tribal leaders to attack al Qaeda.

In other recent developments:

The U.S. military said two American soldiers died and two others were wounded by a roadside bomb in south Baghdad. The bomb used was an explosively formed penetrator, a type of weapon that is provided to Iraqi extremists by Iran, the U.S. military said. Iran denied the allegation. No further details about the incident have been released.

Prime Minister John Howard insisted oil had nothing to do with Australia's involvement in the Iraq war, contradicting his defense minister who said Thursday that protecting Iraq's oil supplies is one of his country's motivations for keeping troops there.

Iraq's Shiite and Kurdish leaders on Thursday were trying to overcome a Sunni Arab boycott of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which threatens to hold up a key new oil law. The United States is pressing hard for passage of the long-delayed oil law in hopes it will encourage Sunni support of the government.

With hundreds of civilian contractors killed in Iraq since the war began, some lawmakers are taking a closer look at the costs and benefits of hiring private soldiers. CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick reports a new movie sparked some of that scrutiny. Podcast

U.S. forces killed 10 insurgents in a raid Wednesday on a suspected al Qaeda hideout in western Anbar province, the military said in a statement. In a separate battle earlier this week, U.S. troops killed 25 insurgents outside the city of Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, the military said.

Three suicide car bombers hit police checkpoints in Baghdad and the western cities of Ramadi and Habbaniyah, killing nine policemen and two civilians. A car bomb hit a popular restaurant outside the northern town of Beiji on the highway to Baghdad, killing three civilians and wounding 12 people.

In northern Iraq, police found the bodies of two members of the minority Yazidi religious sect who had been reported kidnapped three days earlier in the city of Mosul, police said. The bullet-riddled body of an abducted police colonel, a Sunni Kurd, was found in Baghdad.

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by usadvisor101 July 7, 2007 1:49 PM EDT

And CBS is helping them giving them publicity and helping spread the word. Way to go - you bunch of losers!
Posted by infidel_us at 09:07 AM : Jul 05, 2007

-AMEN brother. Amen.
Posted by singinrick at 05:36 PM : Jul 06, 2007


yeah, and you two idiots are guilty of lying and supporting a complete moron in the whitehouse. whom created a huge mess in iraq ,that only caused iraqis to join various terrorist groups, AND NOW THERE ARE THOUSANDS THAT HATE THE USA, when they did not before.

why dont you two jackazzes go to iraq where you belong, quit flappin your lips here and go and fight . whats stopping you???

but in reality, you two are just cowards, that ignore the hard work it takes to fight over there and dont even respect or ever thank our armed forces. you are whinners that have big yellow streak down your backs. nothing worse than someone supporting an idiot, when hes been proven to be completely incompetent. atleast lugar finally admitted it, no one cares if you two bozos do. matter in fact we are glad you keep flappin your lips off, just reminds us how stupid some of you coward neocons are.

Reply to this comment

by prinzowhales July 7, 2007 11:44 AM EDT

We've squandered $19 billion without any appreciable results in training the Iraqi army and police. Viceroy Bremer dismissed the Army and the Police in the most important move to date in the fueling of the insurgency. Lynch is wagering his future advance within the military heirarchy on the continued preeminence of the Neo-scum within the Washington Regime. If the Democrats are any indication--its a good bet--the continued fighting of the 'Long War'...the Stupid Peoples' War for the enrichment of Halliburton and friends, the control of Iraq's oil and propping up of the Israelis as regional hegemon.

General Odum has said, if you want to support the troops--support withdrawing them from Iraq.

al-Zawahiri is the new 'face' that our psy-ops people have given to the enemy...the Iraqi insurgency. It seems like only yesterday that Cheney and friends were telling us that getting Osama was not important...Obviously, this was before the Neo-scum decided to re-brand the insurgency as 'al Qaeda' in Iraq and brand every man, woman and child as a terrorist.

Soldiers! Come home! The enemy is in Washington! The border is open and the Constitution betrayed.

Reply to this comment

by starleo146 July 6, 2007 7:30 PM EDT

I would like to ask a question? This General today said,"Pull the troops out we got a mess, the Iraque troops are not ready". How long have we heard the Iraque troops are not ready. We have been there going on 6 years I think, and who is training these Iraqaue military. How long after one of our American recruits are trained go to Iraq. Pleeze the real reason is so many Iraq military have alliances to the group they belong to i.e. Sunni, Sheia, Kurds they can't think country so what are we to do fight for them? For how long forever or till the last soldier is gone. BRING THEM HOME. Maliki is putting Iraq troops into Basra in 3 months that is where the English troops are and southern Iraq is Shia And so is Maliki.I hope all those troops will be Shia.

Reply to this comment

by prinzowhales July 6, 2007 2:53 PM EDT

notblue--Do you deny that many of the accused hijackers listed by the FBI as the culprits are still alive? There is nothing "imaginary" about that...Google it...its mainstream media...

If you think that these Arabs could fly a Boeing, then why did their instructors maintain that they had trouble with a small prop job... one of the accused couldn't even qualify to rent one! 'Fantasy'? Common, very common, knowledge...again, it was even in the mainstream media...

Again, which fantasy? The bombs of this great terrorist threat didn't amount to squat...yet they've had years to practice their art and it really doesn't take a rocket scientist to blow up a car...and it shouldn't take two to pilot a suicide car.

If radical Islam is the danger you make it out to be, why did Israel support Hamas against the PLO (see HA'ARETZ) and the CIA/ISI support and finance radical Wahabis? Its not a "fantasy" to state that the head of ISI, who had $100,000 wired to M. Atta, the alleged ringleader of 9-11, was in Washington breakfasting on 9-11.

The fantasy is in you notblue, nottrue world of denial.

Reply to this comment

by usadvisor101 July 6, 2007 2:46 PM EDT

actually neoclowns and radical islamic nutcases are more alike than libs. they both are brainwashed religous mutants. bush...god told me to end tyranny. the muzzies....the hand of god blinded them...... they both lie to the public and make up propaganda. they both like beating and telling women what to wear and do. they both are against alcohol, marijuanna and ***. neoclown faint and pass out in church, the muzzies beat themselves with chains and pass out.


both believe in man made,man contrived books and fairy tales.

maybe all you clowns need to go and hang out in iraq for good, since you all think that god listens to you !!!

go on, god wants you to go to iraq and fight each other, now run off chicken hawk and spare us all your fairy tales and bu11shit !!!

Reply to this comment

by secundus2 July 6, 2007 1:55 PM EDT

for Bare Emperor,

You say that ordinary Americans will never meet a terrorist, but I've met the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, their chief fundraiser in the US and one of their flunkies. Of course, not one of them identified himself as anything else other than a teacher at the time. If I can meet three, then guess what!

Reply to this comment

by notblue July 6, 2007 1:47 PM EDT

Hungry1968, your comparison of the savage 6th century ideology known as radical Islam to pro-abortion demonstrations and christains fist fighting does not even require a reply, that sort of ignorant blather speaks for itself.

Prinzowhales, fools like you wouldn't believe the truth about radical Islam even if a bomb was shoved up your asss. If concocting fantasies in order to midigate the threat posed by the militants is what you need to do in order to make sense of your imaginary world then so be it the rest of us will remain vigilante and fight if neccessary.

Reply to this comment

by prinzowhales July 6, 2007 1:07 PM EDT

We're asked to believe that this great world-wide terrorist threat-- 'al Qaeda'--can't even master a car bomb, can't cook an effective explosive and evidently never acquired a copy of the ANARCHIST'S COOK BOOK...yet, its accused operatives can magically operate massive Boeing passenger jets, yet fail to master the intricacies of a small prop plane...Magically, they shut down NORAD and even survive their supposed suicide crashes.

No word from Osama...but his 'second' appears in a studio setting that is a big step up from the cave and hut settings of 'The Best of Osama'.

Al Qaeda is like a bad TV serial...it appears episodicly with little continuity between the episodes save the cast of characters. Its actions fit the needs of the Bush Regime--not of an organization that is really fighting because they 'hate our freedom'.

Reply to this comment

by hungry1968 July 6, 2007 11:48 AM EDT

I don't know where you worship (you probably don't which is why you have no problem spreading lies) but I have been to MANY houses of worship and have yet to hear these "evil" teachings. Of course I have yet to attend a middle eastern modrassa.
You obviously have no clue.
Posted by mbcsmith at 08:35 AM : Jul 06, 2007

Oh please!! Have you ever seen an anti-abortion rally? How about a protest at city hall for gay marriage? I've seen several alleged "Christians" start throwing punches to get their message across. One pro-abortion protester was stabbed! Many preachers and reverends used these as hot bed issues to get their mindless zombie parishioners to the polls to vote for George Bush AFTER he started the war. So it's okay that Bush started a needless war that leading to the death of hundreds of thousands of people - he's against abortion and gay marriage so they'll vote for him. Fri*ggin' hypocrites is what they are!!

Reply to this comment

by mbcsmith July 6, 2007 11:35 AM EDT

-Same Evil, one can say, then the one taught by beautiful and peaceful Christians and Jewish preachers in our peaceful respective churches and synagogs. Yep! Preachings we gobble as stupidly and agreably as drinking a big glass of Kool-Aid. Yep!
Posted by grazinggoat at 02:08 AM : Jul 06, 2007


I don't know where you worship (you probably don't which is why you have no problem spreading lies) but I have been to MANY houses of worship and have yet to hear these "evil" teachings. Of course I have yet to attend a middle eastern modrassa.
You obviously have no clue.

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[usadvisor101]

And CBS is helping them giving them publicity and helping spread the word. Way to go - you bunch of losers!
Posted by infidel_us at 09:07 AM : Jul 05, 2007

-AMEN brother. Amen.
Posted by singinrick at 05:36 PM : Jul 06, 2007


yeah, and you two idiots are guilty of lying and supporting a complete moron in the whitehouse. whom created a huge mess in iraq ,that only caused iraqis to join various terrorist groups, AND NOW THERE ARE THOUSANDS THAT HATE THE USA, when they did not before.

why dont you two jackazzes go to iraq where you belong, quit flappin your lips here and go and fight . whats stopping you???

but in reality, you two are just cowards, that ignore the hard work it takes to fight over there and dont even respect or ever thank our armed forces. you are whinners that have big yellow streak down your backs. nothing worse than someone supporting an idiot, when hes been proven to be completely incompetent. atleast lugar finally admitted it, no one cares if you two bozos do. matter in fact we are glad you keep flappin your lips off, just reminds us how stupid some of you coward neocons are.

[prinzowhales]

We've squandered $19 billion without any appreciable results in training the Iraqi army and police. Viceroy Bremer dismissed the Army and the Police in the most important move to date in the fueling of the insurgency. Lynch is wagering his future advance within the military heirarchy on the continued preeminence of the Neo-scum within the Washington Regime. If the Democrats are any indication--its a good bet--the continued fighting of the 'Long War'...the Stupid Peoples' War for the enrichment of Halliburton and friends, the control of Iraq's oil and propping up of the Israelis as regional hegemon.

General Odum has said, if you want to support the troops--support withdrawing them from Iraq.

al-Zawahiri is the new 'face' that our psy-ops people have given to the enemy...the Iraqi insurgency. It seems like only yesterday that Cheney and friends were telling us that getting Osama was not important...Obviously, this was before the Neo-scum decided to re-brand the insurgency as 'al Qaeda' in Iraq and brand every man, woman and child as a terrorist.

Soldiers! Come home! The enemy is in Washington! The border is open and the Constitution betrayed.

[starleo146]

I would like to ask a question? This General today said,"Pull the troops out we got a mess, the Iraque troops are not ready". How long have we heard the Iraque troops are not ready. We have been there going on 6 years I think, and who is training these Iraqaue military. How long after one of our American recruits are trained go to Iraq. Pleeze the real reason is so many Iraq military have alliances to the group they belong to i.e. Sunni, Sheia, Kurds they can't think country so what are we to do fight for them? For how long forever or till the last soldier is gone. BRING THEM HOME. Maliki is putting Iraq troops into Basra in 3 months that is where the English troops are and southern Iraq is Shia And so is Maliki.I hope all those troops will be Shia.

[prinzowhales]

notblue--Do you deny that many of the accused hijackers listed by the FBI as the culprits are still alive? There is nothing "imaginary" about that...Google it...its mainstream media...

If you think that these Arabs could fly a Boeing, then why did their instructors maintain that they had trouble with a small prop job... one of the accused couldn't even qualify to rent one! 'Fantasy'? Common, very common, knowledge...again, it was even in the mainstream media...

Again, which fantasy? The bombs of this great terrorist threat didn't amount to squat...yet they've had years to practice their art and it really doesn't take a rocket scientist to blow up a car...and it shouldn't take two to pilot a suicide car.

If radical Islam is the danger you make it out to be, why did Israel support Hamas against the PLO (see HA'ARETZ) and the CIA/ISI support and finance radical Wahabis? Its not a "fantasy" to state that the head of ISI, who had $100,000 wired to M. Atta, the alleged ringleader of 9-11, was in Washington breakfasting on 9-11.

The fantasy is in you notblue, nottrue world of denial.

[usadvisor101]

actually neoclowns and radical islamic nutcases are more alike than libs. they both are brainwashed religous mutants. bush...god told me to end tyranny. the muzzies....the hand of god blinded them...... they both lie to the public and make up propaganda. they both like beating and telling women what to wear and do. they both are against alcohol, marijuanna and ***. neoclown faint and pass out in church, the muzzies beat themselves with chains and pass out.


both believe in man made,man contrived books and fairy tales.

maybe all you clowns need to go and hang out in iraq for good, since you all think that god listens to you !!!

go on, god wants you to go to iraq and fight each other, now run off chicken hawk and spare us all your fairy tales and bu11shit !!!

[secundus2]

for Bare Emperor,

You say that ordinary Americans will never meet a terrorist, but I've met the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, their chief fundraiser in the US and one of their flunkies. Of course, not one of them identified himself as anything else other than a teacher at the time. If I can meet three, then guess what!

[notblue]

Hungry1968, your comparison of the savage 6th century ideology known as radical Islam to pro-abortion demonstrations and christains fist fighting does not even require a reply, that sort of ignorant blather speaks for itself.

Prinzowhales, fools like you wouldn't believe the truth about radical Islam even if a bomb was shoved up your asss. If concocting fantasies in order to midigate the threat posed by the militants is what you need to do in order to make sense of your imaginary world then so be it the rest of us will remain vigilante and fight if neccessary.

[prinzowhales]

We're asked to believe that this great world-wide terrorist threat-- 'al Qaeda'--can't even master a car bomb, can't cook an effective explosive and evidently never acquired a copy of the ANARCHIST'S COOK BOOK...yet, its accused operatives can magically operate massive Boeing passenger jets, yet fail to master the intricacies of a small prop plane...Magically, they shut down NORAD and even survive their supposed suicide crashes.

No word from Osama...but his 'second' appears in a studio setting that is a big step up from the cave and hut settings of 'The Best of Osama'.

Al Qaeda is like a bad TV serial...it appears episodicly with little continuity between the episodes save the cast of characters. Its actions fit the needs of the Bush Regime--not of an organization that is really fighting because they 'hate our freedom'.

[hungry1968]

I don't know where you worship (you probably don't which is why you have no problem spreading lies) but I have been to MANY houses of worship and have yet to hear these "evil" teachings. Of course I have yet to attend a middle eastern modrassa.
You obviously have no clue.
Posted by mbcsmith at 08:35 AM : Jul 06, 2007

Oh please!! Have you ever seen an anti-abortion rally? How about a protest at city hall for gay marriage? I've seen several alleged "Christians" start throwing punches to get their message across. One pro-abortion protester was stabbed! Many preachers and reverends used these as hot bed issues to get their mindless zombie parishioners to the polls to vote for George Bush AFTER he started the war. So it's okay that Bush started a needless war that leading to the death of hundreds of thousands of people - he's against abortion and gay marriage so they'll vote for him. Fri*ggin' hypocrites is what they are!!

[mbcsmith]

-Same Evil, one can say, then the one taught by beautiful and peaceful Christians and Jewish preachers in our peaceful respective churches and synagogs. Yep! Preachings we gobble as stupidly and agreably as drinking a big glass of Kool-Aid. Yep!
Posted by grazinggoat at 02:08 AM : Jul 06, 2007


I don't know where you worship (you probably don't which is why you have no problem spreading lies) but I have been to MANY houses of worship and have yet to hear these "evil" teachings. Of course I have yet to attend a middle eastern modrassa.
You obviously have no clue.