US 'not deterred' by latest threat

US President George Bush said today that videotape threats from al-Qaida’s second-in-command will not drive the US out of Iraq or the broader Middle East.

“We will stay on the offence against these people,” Bush said of the comments by Ayman al-Zawahri.

Al-Zawahri threatened more destruction in London and said in a videotape earlier Thursday that the US would suffer tens of thousands of military dead if it does not withdraw from Iraq.

“They’re terrorists and they’re killers and they will kill innocent people...so they can impose their dark vision on the world,” Bush said as he stood alongside Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Their talks at Bush’s ranch focused heavily on terrorism and the problem of narcotics trafficking.