Dubai: An al-Qaeda-led Iraqi group said on Friday that fresh funding for US forces will not help Washington win the war as it vowed that US troops will face tougher times just as President George W Bush predicted.
"The tyrant of this era, Bush, came out and said... the coming days in Iraq would be difficult. We say that God willing there will be tougher days on the enemies than the past ones," the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq said in a statement.
Bush on Thursday predicted heavy fighting for US troops in Iraq as a divided US Congress approved $100 billion for the unpopular war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Do not rejoice that funds have been allocated for your soldiers, because God willing this will not heal their wounds or change anything," it said.
Despite the deployment of tens of thousands of US and Iraqi troops in a major US-led security crackdown, attacks have continued unabated. "What you have said about sending a last wave is rubbish. The battlefield would be the witness," it said.
"We raise our children to love jihad," it said in the statement posted on a website used by Islamist militants. It quoted remarks by al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri in a video statement in January in which he said: "Why send 20,000 only? Why not send 50 or 100,000? Aren't you aware that the dogs of Iraq are pining for your troops' dead bodies?"
April was the worst month this year for the US military since the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003, with 104 soldiers killed. About 90 have been killed in May so far. The US military announced on Friday the deaths of six more soldiers in Iraq.
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