One of the major goals of al Qaeda has been to overthrow secular dictatorships in the middle east in the hopes of replacing them with fundamentalist governments. George Bush played into bin Laden’s hands by knocking out Saddam for him. Bush further helped al Qaeda by radicalizing many moderates in the middle east, helping their recruitment and improving their reputation in the region. Forcing the United States to overextend itself, possibly resulting in eventual bankruptcy has been one of their tactics for handling a superpower. Considering the degree to which George Bush did exactly what bin Laden wanted, it is no surprise that bin Laden decided to give Bush assistance in winning the 2004 election, with CIA analysts concluding this was the purpose his pre-election tape.
With George Bush doing so much to help al Qaeda, it comes as no surprise that they hope to see a continuation of his policies under John McCain. This view has been expressed by supporters of al Qaeda:
“Al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming election,” said a commentary posted Monday on the extremist Web site al-Hesbah, which is closely linked to the terrorist group. It said the Arizona Republican would continue the “failing march of his predecessor,” President Bush.
The Web commentary was one of several posted by Taliban or al-Qaeda-allied groups in recent days that trumpeted the global financial crisis and predicted further decline for the United States and other Western powers. In language that was by turns mocking and ominous, the newest posting credited al-Qaeda with having lured Washington into a trap that had “exhausted its resources and bankrupted its economy.” It further suggested that a terrorist strike might swing the election to McCain and guarantee an expansion of U.S. military commitments in the Islamic world.
“It will push the Americans deliberately to vote for McCain so that he takes revenge for them against al-Qaeda,” said the posting, attributed to Muhammad Haafid, a longtime contributor to the password-protected site. “Al-Qaeda then will succeed in exhausting America.”
Needless to say, the McCain campaign did not welcome this “endorsement” and held a conference call to attempt damage control. Spencer Ackerman reports:
I just got off a conference call held by the McCain campaign to deny that Al Qaeda, contrary to reports in the AP and the Washington Post, is rooting for their man. To describe the call as panicked would be an understatement.
Jim Woolsey, the former CIA director who publicly connected Iraq to the 9/11 attacks without any evidence in 2001, and senior foreign-policy adviser Randy Scheunemann spent more time whining about the Washington Post’s standards of fairness than on the logic of why Al Qaeda might prefer Sen. John McCain
What a week for John McCain. Colin Powell endorsed Obama, leaving McCain hoping that the endorsements of five out of six former Republican secretaries of state would be sufficient to counter this. Now he practically has the endorsement of al Qaeda.
