As-Sahab Releases "Bush, the Catholic Pope, and Darfur: The Crusader's Wars"
By Nick Grace and Richard Lafayette
September 29, 2006

The thirteenth video of al Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri was released on the Internet today by as-Sahab, the terror network's media wing. The 18-minute production, titled "Bush, the Catholic Pope, and Darfur: The Crusader's Wars," is not as well produced as previous Zawahiri messaging products and appears to have been rushed by as-Sahab "onto the street" in order to respond quickly to current events.

The video features two separate videos of Zawahiri - one which is well-produced using computer-generated and bluescreening techniques, and a second one that appears to have been hastily taped in front of a tarp in an open air environment. The well-produced segment is an 8-minute response by aZawahiri to a speech that President Bush delivered on September 7, 2006, relating to the Global War on Terror and the intelligence gains the U.S. has achieved through detainee interrogations. The second and poorly produced video is a 10-minute speech about the situation in Darfur and the controversial September 12, 2006, lecture by Pope Benedict XVI. The transition between the two segments is a hard cut in the video.

Interestingly, a key theme that has been visible in recent as-Sahab products but which is conspicuously absent from this video is al Qaeda's effort to undermine secular and moderate Muslims.

The video
The contrast between the cameras, lighting and environment used in both segments is light and day, and it is clear that the second video was recorded somewhat in haste. What remains unclear is why as-Sahab chose to bundle the two speeches into a single messaging product.

http://www.globalcrisiswatch.com/aq/060929_zawahiri.rm [38.1 Megs]

In advance of the product release onto the Internet , an animated gif banner was posted in advance on the al-Bouraq and Ekhlaas Forum message boards late on Wednesday, September 27.

The video was released in three file formats (DixX, RealMedia and 3GP) and packaged in the RAR format, which is usually used to "zip" multiple files together. The RAR files are password-protected, presumably to block the video from being opened and viewed by Web surfers who discover the files through random searches, with the password, "AVdeoC2008."

A total of four different file sizes have been posted to exactly 328 links on free file transfer sites.

183 Megs (DivX): 56 links
28.2 Megs (RM): 84 links
18.9 Megs (RM): 111 links
5.52 Megs (3GP): 77 links

Interestingly, the name of the RAR file varies on some of the links.

The reason for the use of multiple file names is probably for security and counterintelligence purposes. In the event of a leak or mole within as-Sahab's nebulous network of Internet seeders, al Qaeda could determine the source of the leak by identifying who had access to and responsibility for a compromised file.

Segment 1
The first segment features Zawahiri wearing a white tunic and black turban and sitting in an office environment and reading from cue cards held just to the left of the camera. Close examination of the video, however, reveals that the "office" is a well-produced 3D graphic. Behind him is a flag bearing "No God but Allah" written in Arabic, a smaller desk flag, which cannot be identified, to his left and to his right a miniature model of a cannon, which symbolizes the ceremonial cannon used in the Middle East that is fired daily at sunset during the month of Ramadan to announce the break of the fast.

Indeed this segment has clearly been bluescreened. Although As-Sahab's bluescreening capabilities are increasingly sophisticated with the release of each new messaging product, the lighting used in the raw video footage is too bright against the softer tones of the background collage. The hard edges of the bluescreen matte is visible in his finger when he points upwards and also on his left shoulder, directly under the model cannon. The sides of his beard also display a "halo effect," which is a common problem when bluescreening is attempted. The "halo effect" is also noticeable in the blur of his hand and finger when he moves quickly. See examples here and here. Furthermore, the light of the lamp to his right does not contain a "hot spot" where the bulb would be and also does not shine onto the flag that "hangs" on the wall.

This segment is subtitled in English and appears to have been translated by a native English speaker. Common grammatical mistakes - leaving commas outside of end quotes - are prominent and the acronym "KIA" (Killed in Action) is used.

Zawahiri addresses President Bush, "the lying failure" and "deceitful charlatan," and focuses heavily on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), whose interrogations Bush specifically cited in his September 7 speech on the Global War on Terror. While stating that the "liberation" of KSM and other al Qaeda assets in U.S. custody is "a debt on our shoulders which we must fulfill," Zawahiri takes pains to make the point that KSM "has hurt you thousands of times more than you have hurt him."

Zawahiri claims that the U.S. is retreating in the face of advances by the Mujahideen in Iraq and Afghanistan, and repeatedly calls Bush a "liar" whose bluff the speech is meant to counter. "Can't you be honest at least once in your life," he states, "and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq... And do you have the courage to stand in front of your people and tell your nation that you lied to them and drove them – and continue to drive them – to terrible things because of foolish fantasies?"

The video ends abruptly and hard cuts to the second segment.

Segment 2
The second segment features Zawahiri sitting in front of a brown tarp and appears to have been recorded in an open air environment with ambient lighting. The overall effect is odd, especially in comparision with the first segment, because the lighting is very poor and it appears that the source video was of very low quality. The sound of wind against the microphone clipped to his shirt is audible at times and the tarp ripples throughout the video. Nevertheless, Zawahiri is more relaxed in the segment as he reads cue cards to the side of the camera, gesticulates with both of his hands and even cracks a smile at one point.

This segment is not subtitled in English and its publication seems to have been rushed.

Zawahiri connects two subjects in the speech - the September 12 lecture by Pope Benedict XVI that led to outrage and riots across the world as well as the proposal over the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers to war-torn Darfur.

Regarding the Pope, Zawahiri calls him a "charlatan" and states that the Pope "accused Islam of being incompatible with rationality while forgetting that his own Christianity is unacceptable to a sensible mind." According to the SITE Institute, he calls upon the Pope and Christians to convert to Islam. "We will call upon him," he says, "and all of the Christians to become Muslims who do not recognize the Trinity or the crucifixion, and say that Allah united with the human."

He then rallies his audience to converge onto Darfur, where a largely Christian black minority is under siege from Sudanese Muslim Arabs, and states "O Muslim nation, come to defend your lands from Crusaders masked as United Nations (forces). Nothing will protect you except popular jihad."

Transcript of Segment 1
In the name of Allah, and all praise is due to Allah, and may peace and prayers be upon the Messenger of Allah, and his family, companions and allies. Muslim brothers everywhere: peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

The murderer and spiller of Muslim blood, Bush, has stated that he has secret prisons, in which he holds the dangerous leaders of the group Qaida al-Jihad, including the Mujahid brother Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad (may Allah free him), and he has stated that during the three years after Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad’s arrest, the interrogators have been able to get from Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad valuable information which has helped the Crusaders to kill and arrest a number of leaders of al-Qaida.

But I ask this lying failure: who are these leaders of al-Qaida whose killing or capture was facilitated by the information extracted from Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad?! And I say to him: you lying failure!

What is the extent of your losses after the capture of Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad (may Allah free him)?

Bush – you deceitful charlatan – three and a half years have passed since your capture of Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad, so how have you found us during this time?

Losing and surrendering? Or – by the grace of Allah – attacking, seeking martyrdom, advancing and injuring you on a daily basis, with Allah’s help?

The strikes of the Mujahideen have deprived you of the pleasure of quenching your thirst for revenge with the capture of our champions, those who repeat what Abu Firaas said:

I have been captured, although my friends are not defenseless in war
Nor is my horse a foal or its master unskilled
But if the elimination of a man is decreed
Then neither Earth nor sea can save him
And my friends said, “Either flight or death”
So I said: they are two things the sweetest of which is bitter
But I will go to that in which there is no shame
And enough for you are two things the best of which is captivity
They say to me, “You’ve sold safety for death”
So I said: by Allah, I have not suffered loss
And will death abandon me for an hour if captivity doesn’t abandon me?
Death is loss, so choose that which preserves your memory
For man has not died as long as his memory is preserved.

And I tell him: you lying failure, why can’t you be brave at least once in your life and inform your nation of the disasters being faced by your forces in Afghanistan and Iraq? 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 to increase your profits?

Can’t you be honest at least once in your life, and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq under the pretext of the presence of nuclear weapons there and under the pretext of al-Qaida’s connections with Saddam Hussein, following which evidence proved that you intentionally lied and misled?

And do you have the courage to stand in front of your people and tell your nation that you lied to them and drove them – and continue to drive them – to terrible things because of foolish fantasies?

And I tell him: you foolhardy charlatan, if the arrest of Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad (may Allah free him) has helped you in the “war on terror,” why then are your forces retreating in secret from the south and east of Afghanistan and being replaced by the forces of NATO which are screaming for help due to the horribleness of what is happening to them at the hands of the Taliban and al-Qaida?

And I tell him: if the capture of Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad (may Allah free him) has enables you to inflict blows on al-Qaida, why then are your forces hastily arranging their pullout from Iraq?

And I tell him: Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad (may Allah free him) has hurt you thousands of times more than you have hurt him.

Abu Firaas says,

They boast of removing my clothes, while
My clothes are red with their blood
And a sword’s hilt whose blade broke in them
And the butt of a spear whose head was destroyed in them

Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad is a soldier of Islam who has been fighting its enemies, the Russians and the Americans, for more than 20 years.

And I tell him: Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad is the leader of a march, pioneer of an awakening and vanguard of a nation, and he has left behind him thousands who have either learned from him or learned from those who learned from him and who take as their example his life story and his continuing sacrifices and giving of himself in Allah’s path for the word of Allah to be the highest and the word of the unbelievers the lowest.

And I say to him: what you have perpetrated against Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad and the other Muslim captives in your prisons and the prisons of your slaves in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and elsewhere, is not hidden from anyone, and we are a people who do not sleep under oppression and who do not abandon our revenge until our chests have been healed of those who have aggressed against us.

And we, by the grace of Allah, are seeking to exact revenge on behalf of Islam and Muslims from you and your soldiers and allies.

So persevere – if you can – through the horrors of war, because we – with Allah’s help – are persevering.

Al-Baroodi (may Allah have mercy on him) said,

When the people call on each other and the spears cross
And the war turns on its axis
When the people want to flee from death
And the horses’ chests heave and the blows become severe
And when the empty earth turns with us as if we
Have drunk of a cup from which no one awakes
I persevere in it until its sky clears
And I persevere when misfortune strikes

Bush, you deceitful charlatan: you’ve captured Ramzi Yousef, Umar Abd al-Rahman, Wali Khan, Ibn al-Shaykh, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Khalid al-Shyakh, Abu al-Faraj al-Libi and hundreds of Mujahideen and champions of Islam in your war against Islam which you call the “war on terror.”

And you agents in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan have captured thousands of the youth and soldiers of Islam whom you made to taste at your hands and the hands of your agents various types of punishment and torture.

But we, by Allah’s grace, are taking revenge on their behalf daily from your troops and the troops of your allies and agents in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula and all Muslims countries from Indonesia to Morocco, and moreover, on your own soil every day.

And the terribleness of the fighting only increases our determination to sacrifice and give of ourselves in the Path of Allah.

Abd al-Rahman, son of Hassan bin Thabit (Allah was pleased with them both) said,

I am from an honorable people who increase in
Hostility and courage with the severity of events

Bush, you deceitful charlatan: be aware that the liberation of our captives is a debt on our shoulders which we must fulfill, with Allah’s help and power.

And be aware, you deceitful charlatan, that you are not facing individuals or organizations, but rather are facing the Muslim nation in which the spirit of Jihad flows and which refuses humiliation under Zionist/Crusader arrogance.

So are you able to kill or capture the nation of Islam?

Therefore, stop the bluffing that you have captured so-and-so and killed so-and-so, because Iraq and Afghanistan are overflowing with the bodies of your KIAs, and their buddies are fleeing from death to death, suicidal and despondent.