MIDDLE-EAST:An American al-Qaeda militant urged Islamist militants to welcome President George W Bush with bombs when he visits the Middle East this week.
"Welcome him not with flowers and applause but with bombs and booby traps," Adam Gadahn said in an Arabic aside on a 50-minute video posted on the internet yesterday, which was mostly recorded in English and aimed at the American public.
Mr Gadahn, also known as Azzam the American, said the jihad against the US would continue until it released Muslims from its jails. He complained about the treatment of jailed US Islamist John Walker Lindh and others.
In a theatrical move, he took his US passport from his pocket and ripped 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," he said.
Mr Gadahn is a California-born convert to Islam and the first American to be charged with treason since the second World War.
He is believed to be in Pakistan. - (Reuters)