Al-Qaida leader talks to Muslims in Internet video

He called on Muslims to support al-Qaida in Iraq.
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged all Muslims to support insurgents fighting in Iraq "for the dignity of Islam" and said the "enemy has begun to falter," according to a video posted Thursday on the Internet.
The video was dated with an Islamic month corresponding to November 2005 -- and al-Zawahri mentions an Oct. 23 earthquake that hit Pakistan and Afghanistan. But it appeared to be the first time the 28-minute video has been made public.
In the footage, al-Zawahri appears sitting, wearing a white turban and a gray robe with a microphone pinned to it. An automatic weapon is leaning against a brown backdrop behind him.
"The Islamic nation must support the heroic mujahedeen [holy warriors] in Iraq, who are fighting on the very front line for the dignity of Islam," al-Zawahri said.
"And to my brother mujahedeen in Iraq, I say, Stay firm. Stay together. Your enemy has begun to falter, so don't stop pursuing him until he flees defeated," he said.
Jordanian militant
He called on Muslims to support his "beloved brother" Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who heads al-Qaida in Iraq. "I have lived with him up close, and have seen nothing but good from him," al-Zawahri said.
Two U.S. counterterrorism officials declined to comment.
It was not clear if the video was made before or after a Nov. 9 triple suicide bombing against hotels in the Jordanian capital Amman that killed at least 60 people, mostly Muslims.
Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack, but the civilian deaths brought widespread criticism of al-Zarqawi, even from some Islamic militants. In the wake of the backlash over the Amman bombings, al-Zarqawi joined his group to a wider coalition of Iraqi insurgent groups and has not issued his own statements since January, apparently seeking to lie low. In Thursday's video, al-Zawahri did not mention the hotel bombings and, since the timing was unclear, it could not be known if the comments aimed to show support for al-Zarqawi amid the criticism.
Al-Zawahri -- an Egyptian who is Osama bin Laden's deputy in al-Qaida -- said he was making the video to mark the fourth anniversary of the December 2001 battle of Tora Bora.
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