How convenient...: Now It's Personal: Al Qaeda Calls Bush an Alcoholic Liar

The Blotter
Feb. 13, 2007

The latest taped statement from al Qaeda is an unusually personal attack on President Bush, in which al Qaeda's No. 2 in command, Ayman al Zawahiri, denounces Bush as "an alcoholic, liar and gambler with an addictive personality."

Zawahiri delivers the attack in a 40-minute audio tape released overnight on Internet sites, and relayed to ABC News by an American terror analyst, Laura Mansfield.

On the tape, Zawahiri also condemns American Democrats "as one side of the same coin of tyranny, criminality and failure" for failing to challenge Bush policies as they said they would in the election.

The tape, apparently aimed at an American audience, contains English subtitles and a warning that American civilians are responsible for Bush policies because they "chose Bush twice."

The personal, intemperate attack on Bush was remarkable for the emotion and venom from the usually stoic Zawahiri.

"I don't know his present condition — Americans know best about that, as they are experts in alcohol and addiction to it — but the one who exams his personality finds that he is addicted to two other faults, lying and gambling," Zawahiri said. "He has gone down in history as one of its most notorious liars," he added.