Al-Qa'ida Leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri Threatens the West

The following are excerpts from an address by Al-Qa'ida leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. Al-Jazeera TV aired this tape on February 20, 2005:

Ayman Al-Zawahiri: These days we are marking three years since the transportation of the first group of Muslim prisoners was sent to the Guantanamo prison, after thousands were doublecrossed in Mazar-e-Sharif, despite an agreement with them. They were crushed by air strikes in the Jangi fortress after refusing to surrender.

One might ask why so much attention is paid to Guantanamo, while our [Arab] countries are full of thousands of Guantanamos under American supervision and monitoring? The answer, in my opinion - and only Allah knows - is that Guantanamo exposes the truth underlying the reform and democracy that the US claims to be spreading in our countries. This reform will be based on American prisons, such as Bagram, Kandahar, Guantanamo, and Abu-Ghuraib. It will be based on cluster bombs, missiles, and appointing people like Karazai and 'Allawi.

Oh the peoples of the West, if you think that these fake governments will protect you against our responses, you are delusional. Your true security is in cooperation with the Islamic nation based on mutual respect and ceasing aggression. As for your new Crusade, with Allah's help, it will end in the same defeat as the earlier Crusades – but only after you incur tens of thousands of dead, your economy is ruined, and after you are humiliated in the pages of history.