Al Qaeda's 'endorsement'

Washington Post:

Al-Qaeda is watching the U.S. stock market's downward slide with something akin to jubilation, with its leaders hailing the financial crisis as a vindication of its strategy of crippling America's economy through endless, costly foreign wars against Islamist insurgents.

And at least some of its supporters think Sen. John McCain is the presidential candidate best suited to continue that trend.

"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.

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These guys are not very smart, but they are pretty cynical. They did have a strategy of trying to defeat the US through an exhaustion of resources in a long battle. That has not worked out for them. Their "military" success has diminished since the Bush administration has taken the war to them. And, it is hard for these guys to take any credit for the mortgage mess. They need to give credit to the Democrats for that. They have also learned that voters tend to do the opposite of what they suggest so they are trying to help the weaker candidate, Obama, by "endorsing" McCain.