Zawahri blasts Bush as 'butcher'
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-02-01 08:10

DUBAI: Al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri blasted US President George W. Bush as a "butcher" in a video tape aired on Monday, saying a recent US air strike targeting him had killed only innocent people.

In the tape aired by Al Jazeera television on Monday, Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, also mentioned a truce which the al-Qaida leader had offered the United States in an audio tape aired earlier this month. "US warplanes have launched a raid ... on a village near Peshawar just after the Eid al-Adha (feast) in which 18 Muslim men, women and children were killed in their (US) fight against jihad which they call terrorism," he said, referring to the January air strike in Pakistan.

"They said this was intended to kill myself and four of my brothers but now the whole world has discovered the US lies and their failure and brutality," Zawahri added. "I will meet my fate (death) as set by God the Almighty but if my time did not come you (US President George W.) Bush or all the powers on earth ... cannot bring it one second closer."

Zawahri began the tape by saying "my first message is to the butcher Bush ... you are not only a defeated liar, you are, with aid from God, scared, a failure and a bad omen for your nation. You have brought disaster to your country and will bring more."

Broadcasting more of Zawahri's remarks, Jazeera later said he invited Bush to become a Muslim. "Should you accept, you become a brother and God forgives you all that is past."

Reacting to the new tape, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "The al-Qaida leadership is clearly on the run and under a lot of pressure."

Another US official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the tape appeared to be an authentic recent recording from Zawahri.

(China Daily 02/01/2006 page10)