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Al-Qaeda Issues New Threat

Osama second-in-command vows "imminent" end of the West

By Peter Fearon, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 5, 2007 4:24 AM CDT

(Newser) – Osama bin Laden's No. 2 has issued a new videotaped threat to the US, claiming that the collapse of the West is imminent. Wearing a white robe and speaking in a hectoring tone, the Egyptian cleric Ayman al-Zawahiri calls for unity among warring Iraqi factions against America. The 95-minute al Qaeda video is among the most sophisticated to date.

Victory "looms on the horizon," Zawahiri exults. The tape has English subtitles, incorporates clips from Western television stations, and references journalist Bob Woodward's book on Iraq, "Plan of Attack." It appears to have been made before the bungled bombings in Britain and the arrest of doctors allegedly involved in an al-Qaeda cell.

[Images (1)]

[Videos (2)]

This undated frame grab taken from a video, and made available Wednesday, July 4, 2007 by IntelCenter, an American private terrorist threat analysis company, purports to show Ayman al-Zawahri . Al-Qaida's... (Associated Press)

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Al-Qaeda Issues New Threat