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Complete September 2005 Interview with Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri Conducted by al-Sahab

By SITE Institute
December 5, 2005

An English-subtitled video containing the complete interview from September 2005 with Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, conducted by al-Sahab, an al-Qaeda production company, was issued today, December 5, 2005. This interview, 43:45 minutes in length, is the full recording of which the Arabic satellite channel, al-Jazeera, aired 5:30 minutes on September 19, 2005.

The video begins with Zawahiri’s critique of the United Nations. He claims that the “United Nations is part of the crusader kingdom,” but is conspicuously silent on the effects of the Iraqi embargo, while loudly announcing the atrocities in Darfur, Sudan.

Further, Zawahiri tells the interviewer that “al-Qaeda is spreading, expanding, and growing in numbers and strength,” adding that “the battle [against the west] is still in its first skirmishes.”

He goes on to dismiss criticism that al-Qaeda no longer exists as a group but only as an ideology, reiterating that the group is growing in numbers. He adds here that “the Qaida al-Jihad Group’s latest operation was the blessed raid on London.” He spends several minutes justifying these attacks and verbally assailing the state of Britain and its latest deportation of several radical clerics, including Abu Qatada, who Zawahiri states that England has no room for, while allowing Salman Rushdie to take refuge.

Several times throughout the interview, Zawahiri states that one of the great blunders of the U.S. and Britain was announcing shortly after the London attacks that it was preparing plans for a withdrawal from Iraq. This, Zawahiri remarks, is “the blundering that comes before defeat,” adding that the “specter of Vietnam blocks all their escape routes.”

Zawahiri, throughout, addresses the Muslim masses and the mujahideen, calling for everyone to stand up in the name of jihad, and to attack oil reserves in Arabia. Likewise, he addresses westerners and in particular, Americans, asking them to sit and ask themselves clear, honest questions about their thoughts on their country’s policies, and the reasons behind past attacks from Muslims.

In closing, Zawahiri asks all media production and internet companies to release the interview in “all languages and as widely as possible.”

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