Tape calls Bush a liar, addict
An audiotape attributed to Al Qaeda’s second in command said Tuesday that President Bush was an alcoholic and a lying gambler who had wagered on Iraq and lost.
Ayman Zawahiri said in the tape that Bush had been forced to admit his failure in Iraq after he repeated the “lie, which he became addicted to, that he is winning” in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Bush suffers from an addictive personality, and was an alcoholic. I don’t know his present condition ... but the one who examines his personality finds that he is addicted to two other faults -- lying and gambling,” Zawahiri said.
Bush, 60, has acknowledged that he had a problem with drinking but has said he gave up alcohol when he was 40.
The 41-minute audiotape could not immediately be authenticated but was posted on a website commonly used by insurgent groups.
The logo of the multimedia arm of Al Qaeda, Al Sahab, was displayed.
Transcripts were first released by two U.S. groups that track extremist messages, the SITE Institute and IntelCenter.
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