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| Attack U.S., Qaeda Chief Tells Muslims In a Speech | |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| LONDON — In an audio speech a day after the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, Ayman al-Zawahri, the leader of Al Qaeda, called on Muslims to carry out a “a few disparate attacks” on American soil and to “bleed America economically,” according to a translation on the American SITE monitoring service on Friday. | LONDON — In an audio speech a day after the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, Ayman al-Zawahri, the leader of Al Qaeda, called on Muslims to carry out a “a few disparate attacks” on American soil and to “bleed America economically,” according to a translation on the American SITE monitoring service on Friday. |
| Echoing some of his past themes, Mr. Zawahri laid out a strategy involving economic pressures and terrorist attacks to wage “war on its own land” against the United States and to force Washington to maintain high levels of military spending to weaken its economy. | Echoing some of his past themes, Mr. Zawahri laid out a strategy involving economic pressures and terrorist attacks to wage “war on its own land” against the United States and to force Washington to maintain high levels of military spending to weaken its economy. |
| “We should bleed America economically by provoking it to continue in its massive expenditure on its security, for the weak point of America is its economy, which has already begun to stagger due to the military and security expenditure,” Mr. Zawahri said, according to the SITE translation quoted in news reports. | “We should bleed America economically by provoking it to continue in its massive expenditure on its security, for the weak point of America is its economy, which has already begun to stagger due to the military and security expenditure,” Mr. Zawahri said, according to the SITE translation quoted in news reports. |
| The speech was broadcast Thursday on an Internet forum normally used by jihadist groups and lasted 72 minutes, according to Agence France-Presse. | |
| “And keeping America in tension and anticipation only costs a few disparate attacks here and there, meaning as we defeated it in the gang warfare in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan, so we should follow it with that war on its own land,” he added, referring to places where Al Qaeda and its affiliates have been active. | “And keeping America in tension and anticipation only costs a few disparate attacks here and there, meaning as we defeated it in the gang warfare in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan, so we should follow it with that war on its own land,” he added, referring to places where Al Qaeda and its affiliates have been active. |
| He said such strikes could be carried out “by one brother or a few of the brothers” in anticipation of a bigger attack, apparently an acknowledgment that a diminished Al Qaeda no longer feels able to carry out major attacks itself in the short term. | |
| “With these strikes, we must monitor and lie in wait and seize any opportunity to land a large strike on it, even if it takes years of patience for this,” he said, citing April’s attack at the Boston Marathon. | |
| “The Boston incident confirms to the Americans the extent of their lying and tricking of themselves and their arrogance from accepting the truth that is as bright as the sun, which is that they are not facing individuals, organizations or groups, but they are facing an uprising” by a Muslim world “that rose in jihad to defend its soul, dignity and capabilities.” | “The Boston incident confirms to the Americans the extent of their lying and tricking of themselves and their arrogance from accepting the truth that is as bright as the sun, which is that they are not facing individuals, organizations or groups, but they are facing an uprising” by a Muslim world “that rose in jihad to defend its soul, dignity and capabilities.” |
| Mr. Zawahri also referred to the civil war in Syria, urging jihadists fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces to withhold cooperation from secular foes of the Damascus authorities, apparently underlining a strategy to turn Syria into a bastion of Islamic militancy at the strategic heart of the Middle East. | Mr. Zawahri also referred to the civil war in Syria, urging jihadists fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces to withhold cooperation from secular foes of the Damascus authorities, apparently underlining a strategy to turn Syria into a bastion of Islamic militancy at the strategic heart of the Middle East. |
| Mr. Zawahri, a physician turned terrorist leader who is believed to be in Pakistan, ascended to the top of Al Qaeda after American forces killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, but he has had difficulty managing its disparate affiliated groups, terrorism experts say. In an indication of the affiliates’ growing influence, those experts say, Mr. Zawahri appears to have anointed Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of Al Qaeda’s most effective affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as his heir apparent. | Mr. Zawahri, a physician turned terrorist leader who is believed to be in Pakistan, ascended to the top of Al Qaeda after American forces killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, but he has had difficulty managing its disparate affiliated groups, terrorism experts say. In an indication of the affiliates’ growing influence, those experts say, Mr. Zawahri appears to have anointed Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of Al Qaeda’s most effective affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as his heir apparent. |
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington. | Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington. |