Obama no better than Bush: Al Qaeda

Warning that the US campaign against Al Qaeda in Pakistan "will fail" just like it "failed" in Iraq and Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden's deputy has said President Barack Obama's policies towards the Muslim world, including the Israel-Palestine conflict, were "nothing but illusions".

In a 90-minute video posted on an Islamic militant website, Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader Ayman Al Zawahiri said Obama was no better than his predecessor George W Bush as he blamed the first black American president for escalation in violence in Gaza, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

"Obama can come with all the eloquent words he has, but it is nothing but illusions," the elusive Egypt-born Al Qaeda leader said.

"What new did Obama bring us?" he asked. "He brought us the bombing of Gaza where 1,000 martyrs died. He brought us the destruction in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. What else? He expanded the American prisons so they can absorb more innocent Muslims," he said in the new video tilted 'The Realities of Jihad and the Fallacies of Hypocrisy.'

Al Zawahiri referred to US anti-terrorism efforts since the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York as a series of failures.

"After seven-and-a-half years, their campaign failed in Iraq and in Afghanistan just like it failed in Somalia and will fail in Pakistan," he said.

"Obama is like a wolf whose fangs tear your flesh and whose paws slit your face and then he calls on you to talk about peace," Al Zawahiri said.

"The only reason the American administration changed its policy from Bush's motto that you are either with them or against them to Obama's saying that he wants to deal with the

Islamic world based on a new policy (is) because of the heavy losses that they suffered from by the hands of the 'mujahedeen'," he said.

He also accused Obama of supporting a Palestinian state that would do the bidding of Israel. "Obama wants a Palestinian state that works as a branch for the Israeli government," he said.

"Israel is a crime that needs to be wiped out," he said as he likened Obama's policies to those of Bush.

 "The promises of the two states and ending the settlements were made by Bush, so what's new? This is the continuation of the same Zionist crusader crime against Muslims since the end of World War II," he charged.

 Al-Zawahiri also referred to a conditional truce offer he said had been made by bin Laden.

"The 'mujahedeen' opened the doors to start a new relationship, but (the Americans) insist that their relationships with the Muslim world must be based on hurting us and oppressing us," he said, apparently referring to the 2006 "long-term truce" bin Laden offered to the US without specifying the conditions.

Al-Zawahiri vowed that the 'mujahedeen' will not be deterred.