World Threats

It did not take long for al Qaeda to throw its weight behind a major candidate in the U.S. Presidential Elections. According to the Washington Post, many on al Qaeda’s internet forums are actually supporting John McCain.

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,”

Such postings of course remind us of Osama bin Laden’s statement shortly before the 2004 Election. Bin Laden stated that it did not matter who was President, but his scathing criticism of Bush indicated otherwise, including lines from Fahrenheit 9/11. Osama’s 2007 video also discussed not only American imperialism, but also America’s fault for global warming.

The premise of these postings seem to be based on the belief that McCain will bankrupt the United States by getting itself into wars that we cannot afford. However, in looking at al Qaeda’s past, they seem to be most looking forward to Europeans not wanting to cooperate with U.S. anti-terror operations if McCain is elected. McCain must not be bolstering al Qaeda’s feelings towards him when he states he wants to grow the military and not retreat from the War on Terror. Al Qaeda’s statements are that America is a paper tiger, and McCain’s platform is contradictory to this argument.

Then again, al Qaeda is stating how it is winning the war in Iraq, so perhaps its analysis of the current geopolitical landscape is not one to be trusted.