Printable Version
Zawahiri’s Latest: 'Bring it on'
By John Scott, Fox News Live
January 23, 2007
John Scott: Congressman Roemer, good morning. Thanks for being with us.
Tim Roemer: You’re welcome.
Scott: He [Ayman al-Zawahiri] is inviting the President to send more troops to Iraq, more than 20,000, he says send 100,000, send 10 armies—we will kill them all. Should we go along with this idea?
Roemer: Well Zawahiri now, as you know, has probably released his 14th tape in the last 12 or 13 months. Three things about this tape John. One, they are directly, often times, attached to the U.S. political calendar. It is no accident it is coming the day of the President’s State of the Union. Two, what he really tries to do is communicate with the hearts and minds of people around the world, and three, he loves to claim credit for al-Qaeda—he’s claiming credit for al-Qaeda in Iraq, just like he tried to claim all the credit for beating the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. That is something Ayman al-Zawahiri will continue to try to do, take after take.
Scott: At the same time he won’t come out from under whatever rock he’s hiding under. I mean clearly this is a man living in fear.
Roemer: Certainly he is probably concerned to some degree about his safety, but it sure hasn’t dissuaded him from putting 14 tapes out in the last 14 or 15 months. He is not that concerned. He also refers, often times, to politics around the world. He is talking about Somalia when there are efforts there to rally local Jihadis. He is paying more and more attention, as he does in this tape, to Afghanistan, something that the United States government I think does need to pay more attention to what’s happening there—the increase in suicide attacks, and our efforts there with about 20,000 U.S. troops probably need to be increased. That’s a place, as you well know, the Afghan people want us there, and we need to be successful there with our European allies.
Scott: Congressman Tim Roemer, member of the 9/11 Commission, thank you.
Roemer: Alright John.
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