Ayman “Bumpy” Zawahiri calls on all Muslims to turn mosques, schools, and factories into jihad centers.

On April 18, 2008, Al-Ikhlas and other Islamist websites posted an audio message by Al-Zawahiri, produced by Al-Sahab, titled “Five Years after the Invasion of Iraq; Decades of Oppression by the Tyrant.” Al-Zawahiri states that the Democrats in the U.S. are deceiving their voters when they promise to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by forming an understanding with Iran. This understanding, he says, is meant to allow the Americans to focus on fighting Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but will in fact only “only serve Iran’s interests in the region and add fuel to the fire.”

Al-Zawahiri also discusses what he calls the Muslims’ longstanding economic crisis and political oppression at the hands of the Arab regimes, particularly the Egyptian government. He calls upon the Muslims to take matters into their own hands, saying: “Rights are not granted, but are claimed by force.”

He concludes by urging Muslims to take to the streets, and to turn their mosques, schools, factories and universities into centers of support for jihad and resistance.