Ayman al-Zawahiri, the man believed to be the probable mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks in which over 3,000 people were killed, spoke out last week. Al Qaida released a video message on September 12, one day after the twelve-year anniversary of the tragedy, in which the leader addressed jihadists.

In the over one-and-a-half-hour message that was released on forums that are jihadist-run, al-Zawahiri mentioned several important pieces of news to his followers, all aimed at his urgency to bring harm to America. He spoke of instigating a war on “American soil,” forcing a “war on [our] own land.” He also pushed Muslims in Syria to refuse coactions with non-Muslims.

Al-Zawahiri suggests that in order to weaken and demolish America, jihadists must hit us where it hurts; economically. He says that while our waging war on terrorism has pained us already, a war on our soil would “bleed America economically,” as more and more funds would be necessary for our defense. He also says that just as much patience, possibly years of it, are necessary to truly seal America’s fate, as well. (All quotes are according to translation provided by SITE Intelligence Group.)

At one chilling point in the video, Osama bin Laden’s ‘right-hand man’ references several attacks in which America had been defeated, already, by the Muslim extremists, during the current war. He acknowledges that through these defeats and other attacks, (such as the Boston bombing) we are already “facing an uprising Ummah” (Muslim community).

Image courtesy beau sapin via YouTube.