He Said from his Hidey Hole

Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, defiantly mocked US President George W. Bush's plan to send extra troops to Iraq, saying he should send his entire army to be annihilated.

"In his latest speech, Bush said in his ramblings that he would send 20,000 of his soldiers to Iraq. I ask him: why send only 20,000 soldiers? Why don't you send 50,000 or 100,000?" Zawahiri said in the 15-minute video recording.

"Don't you know that the dogs of Iraq are impatient to devour the carcasses of your soldiers?" Osama bin Laden's deputy said.

"On the contrary, you must send your entire army to be annihilated at the hands of the mujahedin so that the whole world will be rid of your wickedness."

Bush announced on January 10 that he would send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq, in a bid to quell deadly sectarian violence in the war-wracked country.

The US president has waged an aggressive public relations campaign over the past week to warn against pulling out of Iraq hastily, and Iraq is expected to be the focus of his annual State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

But Zawahiri, in the video released online, repeatedly poked fun at Bush's plan for Iraq and the US-led mission to rid Afghanistan of remnants of the extremist Taliban movement.

"Iraq, the country of the caliphate and of jihad, is capable of being a tomb for 10 of your armies," he said.

"It is Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, led by the emir of the believers, Mullah Mohammed Omar (may God save him), who have deprived the Americans of a safe haven in Afghanistan.

"Security must be shared: if we are safe, you will be too ... If we are hit and killed, you will inescapably be hit and killed," the Al-Qaeda official said.

"Today, the duty of every Muslim is to bear arms or to support and serve those who bear the arms."

Ya know I would say if they have not been able to anihilate the US Marines yet, that somehow I doubt if they can deliver on this threat.