Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said a U.S. congressional bill calling for a troop withdrawal from Iraq was proof of Washington's defeat, according to a Web video posted on Saturday.
Republican Sen. John McCain criticized Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's move to repeal congressional authorization for the Iraq war, saying it's "the worst possible idea that anybody could have."
A new video of al-Qaida's No. 2 leader released on Saturday mocks President Bush and U.S. legislation requiring the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, saying the bill would rob the group's fighters of the chance to kill more Americans.
President Bush, urging Congress to craft a war spending bill quickly, offered no clues Saturday about whether he'll compromise over linking U.S. support to stability in Iraq.
As of Saturday, May 5, 2007, at least 3,362 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,738 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
In a new Internet video, Osama bin Laden's second-in-command jeers at the Iraq war funding bill vetoed by President George W. Bush that called for a U.S. troop pullout in Iraq, ABC News said on Saturday.
Al-Qaida in Iraq branded the country's Sunni vice president a "criminal" for participating in the U.S.-backed government, and a suicide bomber Saturday struck army recruits west of Baghdad, killing at least 15 people in another warning to Sunnis not to cooperate with the Shiite leadership.
Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has poured scorn on a US congressional bill tying war funding to a pullout from Iraq, saying it reflected US failure, in a video posted on the Internet Saturday.
Departure did not come easy Saturday for more than 100 Indiana National Guard soldiers headed for Iraq.
US President George W. Bush urged Congress Saturday to approve a new and "responsible" funding bill for the Iraq war, warning of new violence if the money fails to materialize quickly.