Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda’s second in command, released an audio tape with a statement regarding the U.S.’s accomplishments in Iraq. The leader said the U.S. troops have failed and that over the years they have experienced only defeat.

"What the American invasion of Iraq has reached, today, after five years, is ... failure and defeat," Zawahri said quoted by Reuters and added, "The American troops, if they leave will lose everything and if they stay will bleed to death. This is what Bush has chosen for his army and his people, who elected him twice."

He also talked about the U.S. troops sent home and the 140,000 soldiers still in Iraq, calling the whole episode a "ridiculous show to cover up for the failure" and expressing his opinion that Bush is simply preparing the passing of responsibility to the next president.

"It is all a silly episode to disguise failure in Iraq and so Bush would avoid making a decision on withdrawing troops -- which is considered to be a declaration of crusaders' defeat in Iraq -- and move forward the problem to be the next president's issue," he said.

At the beginning of this month, Bush initially accepted his commander’s recommendation to withdraw about 20,000 troops but then imposed a 45-day freeze on the remaining troops in order to preserve the peace. At the time, General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, explained that a large withdrawal might jeopardize the progress made up until that point and that they need to keep a firm hold on their position. And also stated that even though security in Iraq is “significantly better” than in the past years, it is still “fragile and reversible.”

The authenticity of the tape has not been verified up until this point, but the voice resemblance indicates that it actually is Ayman al-Zawahri.