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DUBAI - Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said a US congressional bill calling for a troop withdrawal from Iraq was proof of Washington's defeat, according to a Web video posted today.
"This bill reflects American failure and frustration," Zawahri said. "But this bill will deprive us of the opportunity to destroy the American forces which we have caught in an historic trap."
A White House spokesman declined to comment on the video, which comes four days after US President George W. Bush vetoed a US$124 billion congressional war-spending measure that would have required a troop pullout from Iraq to begin by October 1.
"We ask Allah that they only get out after losing 200,000 to 300,000 killed, so that we give the blood spillers in Washington and Europe an unforgettable lesson to motivate them to review their entire doctrinal and moral system," Zawahri added on the video, posted on websites used by Islamists.
Zawahri denied that al Qaeda and other Sunni Muslim insurgents were stirring up sectarian strife in Iraq, blaming instead the Shi'ite-led Baghdad government.
"The ones who have stirred up strife in Iraq are those who today are begging the Americans not to leave," said the white-turbaned Zawahri, sitting next to bookshelves and an assault rifle.
Zawahri's last public comments were on March 11, when he lashed out at the leadership of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas over its Saudi-brokered deal with the U.S.-backed Palestinian faction Fatah.
US opposition to the Iraq war is strong among Democrats who believe their victory in November's congressional elections gave them a mandate to demand a change in Bush's Iraq policy.
Democratic leaders are in closed-door negotiations with White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten and other senior aides to the Republican president to see if they can reach agreement on a second bill.
- REUTERS
