AL-QAEDA sympathisers have been asked to send in their questions for the terror network's second in command, which he will then answer in an online interview next month.
The bizarre stunt was announced in a new video posted on the internet in which al-Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahri, mocked today's British handover of security in southern Iraq to local forces as a sign that insurgents are gaining the upper hand.
The video, carried by Islamic websites, was issued as Britain handed over security to Iraqi forces in the last of four provinces it once patrolled, effectively marking the end of nearly five years of British control of southern Iraq.
The websites invited readers to send in questions during the next month for Zawahri to answer in an "open interview". How the interview would work was not immediately clear.
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Zawahri has been in hiding since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and - along with Osama bin Laden - is the target of a global manhunt from US forces.
Al-Qaeda has used videos periodically since 2001 to prove the terror leaders are still alive. Zawahri appears in the videos more regularly than bin Laden.
The videos usually make reference to current events to show how recently they have been made and to maximise propaganda value. The "open interview" with questions sent in over the web would be the first of its kind for al-Qaeda.
"Reports from Iraq point to the increasing power of the mujahideen and the deteriorating condition of the Americans," Zawahri told an off-camera interviewer from As-Sahab, al-Qaeda's media arm.
"And the decision of the British to flee is sufficient (proof of this)," he said, sitting beside shelves full of books.
"Iraq is the most important of the fields (in which Islamic militants are fighting)," Zawahri said on the video, which carried English subtitles.
The video carried footage of insurgent videos and from television news stations, including a segment showing critical remarks about the US strategy in Iraq by Ricardo Sanchez, former top US commander in Iraq.
Zawahri dismissed optimistic remarks made by current US officials: "Either the American administration is lying outrageously ... or the Americans have not learned anything from four years of war ... as they did not learn from their defeat in Vietnam."
Zawahri said agents might have infiltrated the ranks of the al-Qaeda-linked group Islamic State in Iraq to carry out attacks on the innocent and commit other crimes, in order to encourage Sunni groups to ally themselves with US-led forces against al-Qaeda. He called for a swift investigation of this.
"If it becomes clear that some group is involved in these crimes, they should be exposed to defeat the plots of the Americans," he said, calling on other insurgent groups to unite with Islamic State in Iraq.
