[T]hat is the reason we have taken a long period to produce this issue. Here, we give the Muslim ummah a bomb recipe that America fears it might reach the hands of other Mujahideen in other fronts.

However, what America didn't expect is that this recipe is going to be in the reach of all Muslims around the world. It will circulate in the social media and Muslims will translate it into different languages. Some will be pleased and pass on the message; while others will be inspired and most importantly make the bomb.

Another illustration:

The issue's second notable feature is a rambling letter from AQ leader Sheikh Aiman Adhawâhiri, (aka Sheikh or Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri.)

On a somewhat amusing note, the magazine misspells "Chief" twice, reducing the grand leader to a mere "Chef."

But there's nothing amusing about al-Zawahiri's letter to the American people. If you were curious as to why al Qaida and its supporters hate us, "Chef" al-Zawahiri lays it out over several pages. This quote sums it all up:

We regret to inform you that you are the worst civilization in the history of the human race. You are a nation which does not observe the Law of Allâh, neither in your constitution nor in your statutes.

Shorter version: There are no innocent Americans because we elected our leaders and pay taxes which are used to fund the war on Muslims. So what our leaders do is our fault. We should have had better judgment.

He also makes 7 demands and says:

[I]f you don’t respond to our demands positively, then prepare to fight the Islamic nation,

I find his letter to be irrational, a misstatement of history and lacking in moral authority. Threatening to bomb innocent people and at the same time claiming the moral high ground is a head-scratcher, to say the least. His letter is just a revenge-screed --it's all about payback.

Since very few people are going to bother tracking down the magazine, and the media will pick and choose the most salacious of his words, I'm reprinting them in full below (minus one long paragraph of religious citations.)

I'll add two more thoughts on the letter here since it is so long I doubt anyone will make it through to the end to see them. The first is that the "core" Al Qaida, AQAP and al-Zawahiri have all become marginalized. ISIS has completely overshadowed them, in ability, money, weapons, recruitment and relevance. The AQ fighters in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen are only interested in fighting their regional battles on their home turf. They don't have the time, energy or interest to attack the U.S. here. AQ, unlike ISIS, doesn't want to take control of and rule the world, it wants to punish the U.S. and take revenge for what it perceives as the injustices done to Palestinians and other Muslims around the world.

My second thought is that this new threat is practically a concession that all AQAP and al-Zawahiri have left is the ability to recruit some lone wolves on the internet. Yes, there will be attempts, perhaps even today, and some may be successful, but not on a grand scale like 9/11. That ship has sailed, and AQ has no ability to pull off another one or anything close.

Okay, here's his letter:

Why do we fight and resist you?

The answer to the first question is simple. We fight you because you attacked us and continue to do so. You attacked us in Palestine, which has languished under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British, with your blessing and support, gifted it to the Jews, who have inflicted upon it over a half-century of oppression, aggression, criminality, murder, expulsion, demolition and destruction. If the creation and perpetuation of Israel is a crime, then you are the chief perpetrators, as I believe that American support of Israel is not a matter that needs to be demonstrated or proven. Israel is a crime and must be destroyed, and everyone whose hands are steeped in this crime must pay the price, and pay it dearly. The Palestinian blood being spilled in the Holy Land must be avenged, and be certain that the Palestinian people shall not cry nor die alone.

You attacked us in Somalia, support the Russian and Indian aggression against us in Chechnya and Kashmir, and supported the aggression of the Jews against us in Lebanon. Meanwhile, the puppet regimes that rule our countries attack us every day under your supervision, orders, and instruction. These regimes deprive our peoples of the rule of Islamic law by force and fraud, and humiliate us and put us in a huge prison of fear and compulsion. They steal our resources and provide them to you for a paltry price. And they surrendered to the Jews, presented them with most of Palestine and recognized their state on its dismembered remains.

The removal of these regimes is an Islamic obligation and a basic step towards the liberation of the Muslim nation, implementation of the Islamic Law, and recovery of Palestine. Thus, our battle with these regimes is inseparable from our battle with you. You steal our petrol and other resources at the lowest of costs to you, by the force of your navies and threat of your armies, in what constitutes the greatest robbery in the history of mankind

You occupy our countries with your military forces and build your bases, desecrating our land and encircling our holy places to protect the security of the Jews and to ensure the continuation of the perpetual plunder of our wealth.

You perpetrated an embargo against the Muslims of 'Irāq, where children were felled daily. It is amazing that one and half million 'Irāqi children died due to the embargo without you batting an eyelid, but when 3000 of your people were killed, the entire world stood up and never sat back down.

These tragedies and catastrophes are but some examples of your aggression towards us. In as much as it is recognized by both law and logic that the victim has the right to retaliate against his attackers, thus you should expect of us nothing less than more Jihâd, resistance, and retribution. Is it logical that America attacks us for more than 50 years and we let it live in security and peace?!

You might argue that none of the above justifies attacking civilians for crimes they did not commit or participate in. But such an argument flies in the face of your constant refrain that your land is the Land of Liberty and you are freedom’s standard-bearers in this world. Thus, the American people choose their government with their own free will on the basis of their agreement with its policies.

Accordingly, the American people have chosen and agreed to America’s backing of Israel’s occupation and rape of Palestine. Conversely, the American people could, if they wished, reject the policies of their government. The American people pay the taxes that pay for the planes which bomb us in Afghānistān, the tanks that demolish our houses over our heads in Palestine, the armies which occupy us on the Arabian Peninsula, and the navies that surround our children in 'Irāq, taxes that go to Israel so that it can continue to attack us and confiscate more of our land.

Thus, it is the American people who are funding the aggression, since they monitor and direct, through their elected representatives, how their tax dollars are spent. And it is American men and women who serve in the American armed forces that are attacking us. For these reasons, it is not possible that the American people are innocent of all the crimes which the Americans and Jews have committed against us.

Allâh has made Qisās (retribution) an observed law. So it is our right to attack whoever attacks us, and destroy the towns and villages of those who destroy ours, and destroy the economy of those who plunder our wealth, and kill the civilians of the country that kills our civilians. To this day, American journalists and politicians refuse to answer your question: 'Why did they attack us on September 11?!'

To what do we call you and what do we want of you?

The first thing to which we invite you is Islam, the religion of Unitarian faith and disowning of all forms of polytheism and taking of partners for Allâh in His worship and obedience, the religion of total love for Allâh and total submission. His law and abandonment of all opinions, philosophies, and theories which contradict the message which He revealed to His prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم the religion of all the prophets, among whom we make no distinctions.

To this last of all revealed religions we call you, the religion of sincerity, good character, righteousness, pureness, compassion, and piety. The religion of doing good to people, establishing justice among them, giving them their rights, defending the oppressed and persecuted, and enjoining good and forbidding evil with the hand, tongue, and heart. The religion of Jihâd for the Cause of Allâh until His Word becomes the supreme. The religion of unity in obedience to Allâh and equality between all people without regard to color, race, or tongue. The religion whose book, the Qur’an, remains preserved and unchanged, even after all other heavenly books and messages have been altered and replaced. The Qur’an, that eternal miracle in which Allâh challenges His Creation to produce anything like it or even like ten of its verses.

The second thing that we ask of you is that you refrain from the oppression, falsehood, immorality, and criminality that exist among you. We call you to morals, values, chastity and purity, and ask you to abandon immoralities like adultery, fornication, perversions, alcohol, gambling, usury, and the selling of sex. We call you to this so that you might be liberated from that into which you have fallen, and that you might be freed of the deception that your politicians have fed to you in order to hide from you the sorry state that you have reached: that you are a “great nation”.

We regret to inform you that you are the worst civilization in the history of the human race. You are a nation which does not observe the Law of Allâh, neither in your constitution nor in your statutes.

The third thing we ask of you is that you stop and honestly reflect on yourselves – which I doubt you will do – to discover that you are a nation without values, principles, or morals, and that these things, as you understand them, are what you expect of others and not what you yourselves
must abide by.

The fourth thing that we ask of you is that you end your support of Israel, India, Russia, and the Philippine in their wars against the Muslims.

The fifth thing that we ask of you is that you pack your bags and leave our countries. We wish you well and hope for your guidance, so don’t force us to ship you home in boxes.

The sixth thing that we ask of you is that you end your support of the corrupt and corruptive rulers of our countries and end your interference in our national policies and the curricula of our educational institutions. Either leave us alone, or expect us in New York and Washington.

The seventh thing that we ask of you is that you interact with us on the basis of mutual benefit instead of the current policy of compulsion, plunder, occupation, and support of the Jews, which shall only bring upon you more disasters. And if you don’t respond to our demands positively, then prepare to fight the Islamic nation, the nation of Unitarian faith that relies on Allâh Alone and fears nothing save Him; the nation that is addressed by its book: [passages omitted]

The nation of Islam, destroyer and defeater - by the Grace of Allâh - of many an empire the like of yours; a nation which despises your aggression, looks forward to the end of your evil, and is ready to fight you. And you, of all people, know the extent of the loathing of your arrogance that exists throughout the Islamic nation.

Should the Americans not heed our advice and invitation to guidance and righteousness, then they shall suffer the curse of Bush, who has called them to a crusade in which they will be defeated by the Mujahideen, Allâh willing, just as their crusader forefathers were sent home defeated and disgraced by our Mujahid forefathers. Should the Americans not take heed, they shall meet the fate of the Soviets, who fled Afghānistān to face military defeat, political disintegration, ideological collapse, and economic bankruptcy.

This has been our letter to Americans in reply to their letter. Perhaps they now understand why we resist and against which civilization of ignorance we shall be victorious, Allâh willing.

I have no idea what letter he is talking about that we wrote him, but I do have one final thought, which is that al-Zawahiri missed a big opportunity in his letter. If he wanted his letter to resonate with Americans, he should have added the one area where AQ has had an impact: reducing our freedoms. We are watched and surveilled today like never before, and but for AQ, and now ISIS, our phone calls, our internet activity, our physical movements and our travel would never be monitored to the extent they are now. There would be have been no renditions, torture or Guantanamo to shame us. AQ may or may not have made us less safe, but it certainly made us less free.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a peaceful New Year to you too, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri.