American al Qaeda militant urges attacks on Bush

By Lin Noueihed

DUBAI (Reuters) - An American al Qaeda militant urged Islamist militants to welcome President George W. Bush with bombs when he visits the Middle East this week and tore up his U.S. passport on camera.

"Welcome him not with flowers and applause but with bombs and traps," Adam Gadahn said in an Arabic aside on a 50-minute video posted on the internet on Sunday, which was mostly recorded in English and aimed at the American public.

Gadahn, also known as Azzam the American, said the jihad against the United States would continue until it released Muslims from its jails. He complained about the treatment of jailed U.S. Islamist militant John Walker Lindh, and others.

In a theatrical move, he took his U.S. passport from his breast pocket and showed its pages on camera before ripping it up in protest at the treatment of Muslim detainees.

"The jihad against you will remain our duty as long as there remains even one Muslim in American captivity," Gadahn said.

"That is why it is incumbent upon you (the American people) to take the steps necessary to force the regime in Washington to free each and every one of them, wherever they are and whatever their supposed crime."

US DEFEATED?

Gadahn devoted most of the tape, entitled "An Invitation to Reflection and Repentance", to a detailed explanation of the shortcomings of U.S. foreign policy and Western Christian civilisation and their defeat at the hands of Islam and Muslims.