Following are excerpts from a video recording of Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahiri; the recording was posted on the Internet on August 3, 2009.
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/2191 .
U.S. Rhetoric "Has Changed From Bush's 'Whoever Is Not With Us Is Against Us" to Obama's Claim That He Wants a New Policy... Because of the Losses [the U.S.] Has Suffered At the Hands of the Mujahideen"
Ayman Al-Zawahiri: "The [anti-terror] campaign goes from one failure to another, with the grace of Allah. After seven and a half years, this campaign has failed in Iraq, in Afghanistan and Somalia, and it is failing now in Pakistan.
"The rhetoric of the U.S. administration has changed from Bush's 'whoever is not with us is against us' to Obama's claim that he wants a new policy vis-à-vis the Islamic world only because of the losses [the U.S.] has suffered at the hands of the mujahideen in the Islamic world.
[...]
"The very minimum that the mujahideen will accept is the following: withdrawing the infidel forces from all Muslim lands, stopping the theft of the Muslims' wealth by the threat of military force, conducting [economic] exchange at real, fair prices, stopping the support for the corrupt, apostate regimes in the Islamic world, releasing all Muslim prisoners, and stopping the interference in the affairs of the Islamic world."
"The Veiled Muslim Woman Reveals the Crusader West's Fear of Muslims' Adherence to the Precepts of Their Religion"
Interviewer: "So what is the alternative if the Crusader West does not comply with these demands?"
Ayman Al-Zawahiri: "The alternative is the continuation of the defeats, losses, and fear of the Crusader West, until victory is achieved, Allah willing.
[...]
"Western civilization is a civilization of decay, of prostitution, and the abandonment of morals and religious values. Is it not the civilization of AIDS?
[...]
"They do not care if a woman exposes her entire body or even sells it, but they do not tolerate it if a Muslim woman wears the veil. The veiled Muslim woman reveals the Crusader West's fear of Muslims' adherence to the precepts of their religion, because they know that they cannot defeat the Muslims unless the Muslims draw away from the precepts of their religion." [...]
"France Will Pay the Price for All Its Crimes, Allah Willing"
"France purports to be a secular country, while its heart burns with hatred for Islam. Napoleon Bonaparte issued his well-known declaration to the Jews in 1799 in Acre, in which he promised them his support in their endeavor to take over Palestine.
"It was France whose soldiers entered Al-Azhar on their horses, trampling its copies of the Koran, and turning it into stables for their horses. It was France that fought Islam and the Arabs in Algeria. It was France that supplied Israel with its nuclear reactors. It is France that is fighting the Muslims in Afghanistan, and it is France that fights the hijab. France will pay the price for all its crimes, Allah willing." [...]
"Obama is Trying to Sell Illusions to the Exploited and Oppressed... He Is a New Manifestation of the Same Old American Criminality"
"Obama is trying to sell illusions to the exploited and oppressed. Obama has realized that the anger of the oppressed, especially in the Islamic world, toward the U.S., and their hatred of its policies, have caused it catastrophes and tragedies and have broken its back. He is trying to say: 'Don't hate us. We harbor no malice toward you. However, we will go on killing you in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, and Somalia, and we will continue to occupy Muslim countries, and our military presence in the Gulf will continue to ensure the plundering of oil at the prices we want. We will continue to support Israel, to affirm its Jewish identity, and to recognize Jerusalem as its united and eternal capital.
[...]
"'We will continue to uphold Israel's military superiority.
[...]
"'We will continue to support the oppressive, tormenting, and thieving regimes in your countries. But don't hate us.'
"We are not a nation of stupid, gullible people who would let Obama treat us as fools with meaningless, malleable expressions, while he is a new manifestation of the same old American criminality, whose purpose is the implementation of a Zionist scheme." [...]
"The Muslims Will Not Accept Two States on the Land of Palestine"; "Obama... Should Accept Sheikh Osama [bin Laden]'s Two Initiatives"
"The Muslims will not accept two states on the land of Palestine. Palestine belongs to the Muslims. It was occupied by the infidels, and it is the duty of the Muslims to drive the invaders out of it. Israel is a crime that has to be eliminated.
[...]
"Didn't Sheikh Osama Bin Laden, may Allah protect him, offer two initiatives - one to the Americans and the other to the European peoples - to stop their aggression against the Muslims, and to embark upon relations based on reciprocal benefits, rather than on oppression and plunder? [Bin Laden's initiatives] were met with rudeness.
"If Obama wants to reach an understanding, he should accept Sheikh Osama's two initiatives, which are just. The mujahideen have opened the door for the West to turn a new leaf, but the [Westerners] insist on relations that are based on oppressing us.
"Obama Has No Religion"; "Obama is No More Than a Shedder of Muslim Blood - Just Like His Predecessor, Bush"
"Obama has no religion. He was born to a Muslim father, then converted to Christianity, and recently, prayed the Jewish prayers. The bombardment of the tribal areas [in Pakistan] only increases the hatred of the Muslims toward America, reveals the Pakistani regime's collaboration with the Crusaders, proves that Obama was lying when he said he was beginning a new policy vis-à-vis the Islamic world, and shows that Obama is no more than a shedder of Muslim blood - just like his predecessor, Bush."
