As promised, Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video tape of where he condemns the Pope, and of course President Bush. On the Pope:

“This charlatan accused Islam of being incompatible with rationality while forgetting that his own Christianity is unacceptable to a sensible mind,” the militant leader said.

Right, because Christianity has been so perversed throughout time. It has to be in order for Zawahiri to believe what he does. It’s a mainstay of Islamists.  Also, and I certainly would hate to correct Zawahiri, but the Pope said spreading Islam by the sword was not rational, not Islam itself.  That is, if Zawahiri does not believe Islam should spread by the sword.  He doesn’t; he believes it should spread by threats and bombs.

On Bush:

“Why don’t you tell them how many million citizens of America and its allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people’s sons in order increase your profits?” al-Zawahri said.

I think I’ve heard that statement before, but not from any Al Qaida figure. Someone, anyone, help me out here.

SITE offers more:

To U.S. President George W. Bush, Zawahiri brands him a “deceitful charlatan” and liar, and questions: “why don’t you tell them how many million citizens of America and it’s allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people’s sons in order to increase your profits?” He questions his motives for initating the War in Iraq, ridiculing the false prexets under which it was conducted. To this end he cites the purported links of Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda, and the presence of weapons of mass destruction. He also addresses the capture of Khalid Shaikh Muhammad and questions that if it helped in the “war on terror” then “why are your troops retreating in secrete from the south and east of Afghanistan?… Bush…be aware that the liberation of our captives is a debt on our shoulders which we must fulfill”. Other individuals who have been captured, such as Ramzi Yusef, Omar Abdul Rahman (the “Blind Sheikh”) and Abu al-Faraj al-Libi are also cited.

In the Arabic portion, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri discusses the issue of the Pope Benedict XVI’s slanderous comments to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, by prefacing such attacks as beginning with the Satanic Verses of Salmon Rushdie, followed by desecration of the Qur’an at Guantanamo Bay, and banning of the hijab in French schools. He states that the current pope is reminiscent of Pope Urban II, who “provoked the people of Europe to fight the Muslims” in the Crusades. Zawahiri disregards Christianity due to its “supersitions” and alleged irrationality, but avers that Muslims are not enemies of Jesus as Pope Urban II claimed. On the pope’s comments directly, Zawahiri adds: “if Benedict attacked us, we will respond to his insults with good things. We will call upon him, and all of the Christians to become Muslims who do not recognize the Trinity or the crucifixion, and say that Allah united with the human.”

What does Rushdie have anything to do with this? That is, unless Zawahiri did or plans on issuing a fatwa for the Pope’s life too for supposedly saying Islam is violent.

The Trinity is the key reason in which Islamists believe Christianity is faulted. I’ve outlined this belief before (look in the comments) and won’t rehash it all again, but it’s the misunderstanding of what the Trinity that causes such confusion for the petty minds of Islamists.

UPDATE: The Jawa Report has more and includes the context to the “millions” comment running through the press wire.

The murderer and spiller of Muslim Blood , Bush, has stated that he has secret prisons in which he holds dangerous leaders of the group Qaida al-Jihad. Including the Mujahid brother Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad (may allah free him). (and) He has stated tjhat during the three years after Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad’s arrest the interrogators have been able to get from Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad valuable information which helped the Crusaders to kill and arrest a number of leaders of al-Qaida.

But I ask this lying Failure who are the leaders of al-Qaida who’s killing or capture was facilitated by the information extracted from Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad? And I say to him you are a lying failure. What is the extent of your losses? After the capture of Khalid al-Shaykh Muhammad(may Allah free him).

If I didn’t know any better, I might think this was Howard Dean in the video. And it’s always interesting when any AQ figure decries the spilling of Muslim blood while the group goes out an kills Muslim blood. They look at it differently than everyone else though. We see it as very sad that any innocent person dies and we try to prevent it. They want to kill ‘innocent’ people regardless of religious affiliation. If they kill a Muslim, they are just accelerating their trip to Allah. It’s really a win-win situation for Al Qaida.