Al-Zawahri calls Bush a 'failure'

Al-Qaida’s deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called US President George Bush a “butcher” and a “failure” in a videotape aired on Arab television today, his first appearance since an American airstrike that targeted him this month in Pakistan.

Al-Zawahri, shown in the video wearing white robes and a white turban, said the January 13 airstrike killed “innocents” and said the United States had ignored an offer from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden for a truce.