We haven’t heard from Osama bin Laden in a very long time. This is, of course, because he joined the Choir Invisible at the end of 2001 in Tora Bora.

But his jihad buddy Ayman al-Zawahri seems to still be consuming oxygen, and he’s calling for a war of civilizations.

John Kerry would have you believe that Zawahri is righteously angry about America’s imperialistic quagmire mistake in Iraq. But the truth is that Zawahri has been preaching global jihad for many years—and he’s far from the only one.

And please notice, in this release from al-Reuters, how they go out of their way to lend legitimacy to Zawahri’s war cries.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Senior al Qaeda official Ayman al-Zawahri, in a purported audio tape aired Friday, urged Muslims to set up an organized resistance to hit the interests of “crusader America” and its allies throughout the world.

“We should not wait until U.S., British, French, Jewish, South Korean, Hungarian or Polish forces enter Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen and Algeria before we resist,” said the voice on the audio tape aired by Al Jazeera television.

“Let us start resisting now. The interests of America, Britain, Australia, France, Poland, Norway, South Korea and Japan are spread everywhere. They all took part in the invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq or Chechnya or enabled Israel to survive.” …

The man on the tape said Muslim youths should emulate insurgents in Iraq, where U.S. forces are battling an uprising against the U.S.-backed government, and also in Afghanistan, where guerrillas from the ousted Taliban regime are stepping up violence ahead of presidential elections next month.

The tape urged fighters to form a leadership to organize resistance around the Muslim world and told them to carry on even if al Qaeda leaders were killed or arrested.

“We can’t wait or we will be eaten up country by country … People of knowledge and experience should organize their efforts and form a leadership for the resistance to combat the crusaders,” said the man on the tape.

He called for attacks against Israel and its ally, the United States, “to liberate” the Palestinians who have been waging a four-year uprising against Israeli occupation.

“Defending Palestine is a legitimate issue and liberating Palestine is an Islamic duty for all, therefore Muslims cannot give up Palestine even if the whole world does so.

”Limiting the battle to fighting only the Jews in Palestine and leaving America without attacking it, will not restrain America and the crusaders against us,” the voice said.