Cairo – An American thought to be an al-Qaeda activist appeared in a videotape with the terror group’s deputy leader Saturday and called on his countrymen to convert to Islam and for U.S. soldiers to switch sides in the Iraq and Afghan wars.
The 48-minute video, posted on an Islamic militant website, had footage of al-Qaeda’s No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, and of Adam Yehiye Gadahn, a 28-year-old American who the FBI believes attended al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan and served as an al-Qaeda translator.
It was the second time Gadahn appeared in the same video with al-Zawahri. In a July 7 video marking the one-year anniversary of the terrorism attack on London commuters, Gadahn appeared briefly, saying no Muslim should “shed tears” for Westerners killed in al-Qaeda attacks.
But Saturday’s video – and the length of Gadahn’s speech – suggested al-Qaeda has found in him someone who can communicate effectively with Americans.
Appearing days before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., Gadahn spoke for nearly the entire video, wearing a white robe and a white turban, sitting in front of a desk with a computer and Islamic religious books in a room with a white wall.
The video included no direct threats of terror attacks.
