DUBAI, 11 November 2006 — A purported audio recording by the leader of Iraq’s Al-Qaeda wing has said that outgoing US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld quit in order to flee the Iraqi battlefield. Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub Al-Masri, said in the recording posted on the Internet that the group has 12,000 armed fighters and 10,000 others waiting to be equipped to fight US troops in Iraq.
The Democrats’ victory at Tuesday’s congressional elections were a step in the right direction, the speaker said.
“I tell the lame duck (US administration) do not rush to escape as did your defense minister... stay on the battleground,” the speaker said. “The American people have taken a step in the right path to come out of their predicament... they voted for a level of reason.”
“The (US) enemy is now wobbly. Today they are loading their gear to flee,” the speaker said. The speaker vowed allegiance to Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, the head of a Sunni Islamic state of Iraq’s mostly Sunni Arab provinces announced in October by Al-Qaeda and groups affiliated to it.
“I say to... the ruler of believers (Baghdadi), I vow allegiance to you,” he said, calling on all Sunni insurgents to follow suit. “I put under your command 12,000 fighters who are the army of Al-Qaeda,” he said.
The speaker blasted Bush and said his policies had allowed Iran to spread its influence in Afghanistan and Iraq after Washington toppled their rulers, and expanded Iran’s reach into Syria and Lebanon.
The Al-Qaeda posting came on a day when Iraq’s Health Ministry said up to 150,000 people had died since the 2003 US-led invasion. A Health Ministry officials said the victims were killed “during military confrontations, assassinations and sectarian assassinations.”
