From the full transcript of Zawahiri’s audio recording:

First, a message of congratulations to the Muslim Ummah on the American people’s admission of defeat in Iraq. Although the evidence of America’s defeat in Iraq appeared years ago, Bush and his administration continued to be stubborn and deny the brilliant midday sun. If Bush has achieved anything, it is in his transfer of America’s disaster and predicament to his successor. But the American people, by electing Obama, declared its anxiety and apprehension about the future towards which the policy of the likes of Bush is leading it, and so it decided to support someone calling for withdrawal from Iraq.

Earlier, I wrote that we should not care what al Qaeda thinks of us. What I meant was: we shouldn’t heed their moral judgment. Strategically, though, it’s important to know how terrorists size us up. The above statement should serve as a reminder of exactly why it’s critical for all Americans that the U.S. wins decisively in Iraq, regardless of where you stood on the initial invasion. From uncovered internal communiqués, we know that senior al Qaeda members are not nearly as triumphal about Iraq as Zawahiri’s chest-thumping would suggest. But still, countries must want to win their wars if they are to survive.