SEPT 11, 2004Osama's No.2 rallies terror network for attacks...

SEPT 11, 2004
Osama's No.2 rallies terror network for attacks
CAIRO - Barely hours after the deadly bomb blast in Jakarta, Al-Qaeda's No. 2 Ayman Al-Zawahiri was shown in a taped broadcast that appeared to be a rallying call for the terror network ahead of the third anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks on America.

Wearing a white turban and with a rifle at his side, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man said Al-Qaeda's fighters had foiled American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

'The Americans are hiding in their trenches and refuse to come out to face the Mujahi- deen... Their defence is only to bomb by air, wasting US money as they kick up dust,' the fugitive Egyptian cleric said.

'The American defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan has become just a question of time. In the two countries, the Americans are between two fires: if they remain there they will bleed to death, and if they withdraw they will have lost everything,' he added on the broadcast by Al-Jazeera television on Thursday.

Indonesian police have blamed Islamic militants linked to Al-Qaeda for Thursday's attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta that killed nine and injured nearly 200.

In the tape, Zawahiri, whom some suspect to be hiding in the mountainous region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, said that 'the era of security is over' for Americans.

They will never enjoy it again unless their government stops its 'crimes' against Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine, he said.

He added that there are plans to tear apart the Arab and Islamic worlds, saying that includes the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt and Sudan.

Since Sept 11, 2001, Zawahiri has surfaced with taped messages, most recently on June 11, when he slammed a US plan for reform in the Middle East as an attempt to replace Arab leaders.

US intelligence analysts have begun studying the latest videotape to try to determine when it was made and whether it contains any hidden messages, an official said.

Analysts say video and audio messages from Osama and Zawahiri may be a signal for followers to attack, citing messages before the blasts in Bali and Yemen in 2002, and in Madrid earlier this year. -- AFP, Reuters, AP