Al Qaeda Happy with election results

[Abomb-baby]

BAGHDAD -- The head of al Qaeda's Iraq operations yesterday gloated in a new audio tape over the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and praised U.S. voters for punishing President Bush and the Republicans in Tuesday's midterm elections.
Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, in the first public statement by a senior al Qaeda figure since the vote, said in an Internet-posted recording that his group now had 22,000 armed fighters and reserves in Iraq and taunted Mr. Bush not to copy Mr. Rumsfeld and "flee the battlefield."
Al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, urged the United States to stay in Iraq so his group would have more opportunities to kill American troops.
"We haven't had enough of your blood yet," he boasted. "We call on the lame duck not to hurry his escape the way the defense secretary did.
"We will not rest from our jihad until ... we have blown up the filthiest house -- which is called the White House," al-Muhajir said.
The Egyptian-born al-Muhajir became al Qaeda's point man in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air strike in June. The 20-minute recording could not be independently verified and White House spokesman Tony Snow declined to comment on its contents.
U.S. military officials separately announced the deaths of five more servicemen serving in Iraq. A total of 26 American troops have died so far this month.
Calling Mr. Bush a "coward" and the "most stupid president" in history, the al Qaeda leader also said, "The American people have put their feet on the right path by ... realizing their president's betrayal in supporting Israel. So they voted for something reasonable in the last elections."
In neighboring Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also expressed satisfaction with the Democratic gains in the U.S. vote, calling them a boon for Tehran.
"The issue in these elections was not a purely domestic issue for America, but it is the defeat of Bush's hawkish policies in the world," the Iranian leader said in remarks to the ISNA news agency.
"Since Washington's hostile and hawkish policies have always been against the Iranian nation, this defeat is actually an obvious victory for the Iranian nation," the hard-line cleric added.
The comments by the Iraqi al Qaeda leader not withstanding, Iraqi army officials announced they had captured the Egyptian leader of an al Qaeda cell in restive Anbar province.



Not making a judgement here, only looking for opinions on why our enemies are so happy with the results...

 

[all_i_want]

Because Bush has emerged as the chief enemy for, well, your enemies. Him and his administration embodies the neo-con, pseudo-imperialist policies US has been accused of. Losing to the Democratic Party, who are second only to terrorists and rogue states as Bush's enemies, is a sign of weakness for the president. In the end it comes down to 'the enemy of my enemy'.

But of course many will draw conclusions from this, such as:
-Democrats made terrorists happy.
-Terrorists agree with Democrats.
-Democrats are terrorists.
-NY Times and liberal democrats fight against America in the war on terror.
-Democrats hate freedom.
-Al Qaeda brought Democrats to power.
-Howard Dean is a mullah in disguise.
-Democrats hate democracy (??)
-Democrats want to cut and run.
-Democrats are against a free and democratic Iraq.
-Democrats can't 'stay the course'

etc.

 

[DaveC]

And this is relevant in what way...?

 

[trevster2k]

The policies which led to Iraq are Al Qaeda's wet dream. They want easy targets to attack and this administration gave it to them on a silver platter after Afghanistan turned out to be so easy, initially. Al Qaeda wants America to stay and fight in Iraq, plus they get to study the strategy of the US military during deployments, convoy strategies, etc. They are learning so much about US tactics and they love it.

Although, if the Republicans won, they would probably claiming the same victory. These statements are just political bullshit meant to taunt and enhance the fear in the US. Al Qaeda has political goals which is the whole reason for their existence.

 

[AchtungBono]

I really wish there was a way for Bush to stay in office indefinitely.

 

[BonosSaint]

Well there's martial law and suspension of the elections.

Or a Constitutional amendment regarding term limits and during the election, guns being held to the heads of the 60 to 70 percent of the Americans who think he is doing a lousy job. but the amendment wouldn't pass, so your best shot is martial law.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Tough choice there, bonosaint, I think martial law sounds like the less bloody option.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Of course, Al Quaeda can be relied upon to 'applaud' any election anywhere that results in a left-of-right government gaining power. I know from the memos I get in my inbox that they have detailed opinions on such issues as public education, public health and who's gonna catch the stray dogs.