Zawahiri Speaks... English

This is a first. Ayman al Zawahiri, the number two guy in al Qaeda has released another video, but this is the first time that he's spoken in English.

The message was aired on Pakistan's ARY television network, IntelCenter said in a statement, adding that it marked "the first official message ever ... in which he speaks English."

Zawahiri "calls for the people to support jihad in Pakistan and lists a litany of grievances against the Pakistani government and US involvement there," said IntelCenter, which monitors extremist websites and communications.

In particular, Zawahiri accuses Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf of corruption, arguing that he is only working to support US and Western interests and that he has committed crimes against Muslims all over the world.

Zawahiri also describes Abdul Qadeer Khan -- the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb under house arrest for transferring nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea -- as a "scapegoat to appease the Americans."

"Let there be no doubt in your minds that the dominant political forces at work in Pakistan today are competing to appease and please the modern day Crusaders in the White House, and are working to destabilize this nuclear capable nation under the aegis of America," Zawahiri was quoted as saying by IntelCenter.

The Al-Qaeda chief "also relates his own personal experiences having lived in Pakistan in an apparent attempt to build a stronger connection with the Pakistani people."

The Egyptian-born Zawahiri says he picked English because he "wants to speaks directly to the Pakistani people and chose English because he cannot speak Urdu."

From this report, it would appear that he's trying to convince Pakistani Islamists to come over to his cause and undermine the Pakistani government, which has alternated between appeasement and crackdown under Pervez Musharraf. It's curious that he hasn't spoken English before, knowing that the Americans would be scrutinizing every word. Instead, he's waited until now to speak not to an American audience, but a Pakistani one.

That's telling. Things must not be going well in Pakistan or anywhere else for al Qaeda in order for him to start talking to prospective Islamists in English. He's run out of things to say in his native tongue and isn't getting sufficient numbers of jihadis to join, so they're having to find new avenues.