Zawahiri: "The entire world is an open battlefield for us"

By Scott Stearns

(VOA) According to Pakistani intelligence sources, the son-in-law of Al-Qaeda’s number two, Dr. Avman Al-Zawahiri, was the mastermind of the August 10th terrorist plot to blow up US-bound flights from the UK. The Pakistani Dawn newspaper broke the story, quoting an unnamed intelligence official as saying, “The mastermind in the planes bombing plot is Zawahiri's son-in-law. He is the guy being looked for.”

Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian physician, is Osama Bin Laden's top lieutenant and is considered the current power behind Al-Qaeda while Osama is in hiding. Al-Zawahiri has several son-in-laws, and it is not known yet as to which one was behind the early August terror plot. August marks the 8th anniversary of the Kenya and Tanzania U.S. embassy terror bombings.

A key al-Qaida leader has called for revenge against Israel's offensives in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. President Bush says he is not surprised.

In July Al-Qaida's second-in-command said the terrorist group will not remain silent while Israeli attacks "burn our brothers."

In a taped message broadcast by the al-Jazeera television network, Ayman al-Zawahiri called for Muslims to rise up and become martyrs in a global Jihad against Israel and what he called the crusader coalition.

He said war with Israel does not depend on cease-fires. It is a jihad that will last, he says, until religion prevails from Spain to Iraq. "The entire world is an open battlefield for us," Zawahiri said.

It is his 10th taped message of the year, but the first from al-Qaida since Hezbollah snuck across the border into Israel and kidnapped Israeli soldiers.

Asked about the tape during an Oval Office meeting with the President of Romania, U.S. President Bush said he is not surprised that other terrorists are starting to speak out in support of Hezbollah.

"Zawahiri's attitude about life is that there should not be free societies," said Mr. Bush. "And he believes that people ought to use terrorist tactics - the killing of innocent people - to achieve his objective. And so I am not surprised that he feels like he needs to lend his voice to terrorist activities that are trying to prevent democracies from moving forward."

With al-Qaida's strength significantly reduced, White House spokesman Tony Snow believes the new threats are part of Zawahiri's efforts to remain relevant, or to "stay in the game."