Zawahiri says victory is near while continue to cower in hiding

CNN:

In a newly released videotaped message similar to a "fireside chat," al Qaeda's second-in-command issues advice and directives for the Muslim world, terrorism expert Laura Mansfield said Wednesday.

In the one-hour, 34-minute video, titled "The Advice of One Concerned," Ayman al-Zawahiri includes clips from other videos and news broadcasts, including one from al-Furqan, the video production arm of the Islamic State of Iraq, according to Mansfield, who obtained the video.

Al-Zawahiri says in the message that the defeat of the West is imminent, and that "the enemy" is trying to forestall the inevitable, Mansfield said.

"The good omens of the new dawn of victory have begun to loom on the horizon, with Allah's permission and will," he says.

"And the stage preceding victory is normally, in the history of nations, the stage in which there is most seen an increase in conspiracies, plots and inciting of discord in an attempt by the enemy, who has begun to see his defeat approach, to push back and delay the defeat as much as he can."

Al-Zawahiri does not reference the recent terrorism incidents in the United Kingdom in the video.

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Al-Zawahiri also rebukes Fatah for battling Hamas in the Palestinian territory, telling party members to "return to your religion, your Islam, your honor and your Arabness."

Last month, al-Zawahiri, in an audiotaped message posted on several Islamist Web sites, voiced his support for Hamas leaders who maintain control of Gaza after a split with Fatah, a more moderate Palestinian faction.

"We say to you, now that you are in control of Gaza, you should remember two things: One is that being in power is not a goal in itself, but the goal is, rather, to implement the rule of Allah," al-Zawahiri said in that audiotape, according to a CNN translation.

"Two, this control is incomplete and unstable, for the [Israeli] plans are being made to invade Gaza. Unite with your mujahedeen brothers in Palestine and do not stir up problems with them.

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ABC News also has coverage of the cowardly diatribe. When is this guy going to prove to the world that he is winning and not hiding in a cave. All he has to do is announce a press briefing and there will be all sorts of people there to hear what he has to say, but he is too frightened to even take questions.

At least the UK's new Prime Minister was willing to fall on his face in front of an audience, but this guy does not even have the courage to do that. I mean if he is in control of the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan like he suggest, I am sure he would not have to worry about being captured or killed. Well maybe not. He is still ducking every time he thinks a Predator is flying by.

Hear is the deal Zawahiri. Announce the time and place of your next press availability and if you survive that engagement, I will consider your points on how well you are doing.

I also do not think the timing of this speech was a coincidence. He deliberately muddied up the facts to cover for the failure of the operation in the UK, but if it had succeeded, the speech would have been considered gloating. We should also look at the timing of the strike in Yemen, which may have been coordinated to time with the strikes in the UK and make it look like al Qaeda had a worldwide reach.

The fact is that al Qaeda's bench is so weak now it is having trouble pulling off small scale human bomb attacks. The mass murder business just is not what it was before 9-11. The organization is suffering from significant attrition of leadership and human ordinance in Iraq and elsewhere. It still has its evil intent but its is failing in its murderous trade craft.

The Jawa Report has the video and some commentary on it.