CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri condemned President Bush in a video statement released Friday, calling him a failure and a liar. "Why don't you tell them how many million citizens of America and its allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people's sons in order increase your profits?" al-Zawahri said in a portion of the video released by the Virginia-based IntelCenter. It said the message was titled "Bush, the Pope, Darfur and the Crusades."
The video was the latest to come from al-Zawahri since earlier this month. Al-Qaida released a string of videos for the anniversary of Sept. 11, showing increasingly sophisticated production techniques in a likely effort to demonstrate that it remains a powerful, confident force despite the U.S.-led war on terror.
An intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. experts view the tape as a typcial propaganda message, whose main thrust is a call for more people to join the jihad.
It wasn't immediately clear when the message was recorded, but al- Zawahri made a reference to the pope, indicating the message was produced sometime after Pope Benedict XVI's controversial comments about Islam on Sept. 12, the official said.
