Editore"s Note
Tilting at Windmills

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June 3, 2009

NEVER LET 'EM SEE YOU SWEAT.... During the presidential campaign, we'd occasionally hear far-right Republicans insist that al Qaeda would be thrilled to see Obama win the White House. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) offered one of the more ridiculous examples, but he certainly wasn't alone.

I think about those tirades every time al Qaeda gets a little more panicky about the Obama presidency.

Al-Qaida's deputy leader on Tuesday criticized President Barack Obama's upcoming speech to the Islamic world in Cairo, saying it will not change the "bloody messages" the U.S. military is sending Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. Al-Qaida has repeatedly lashed out at Obama since he was elected, a move some analysts believe indicates the terrorist organization is worried he will be effective in improving the U.S. image in the Muslim world.

Yep. These new audio messages, posted to militant web sites, continue to make the terrorist network sound rather desperate. In this new one, Ayman al-Zawahri urges Muslims to believe that the United States has launched a "war on Islam," and asks Egyptians to reject Obama as a "criminal." (He also hinted that the U.S. president might be a secret Jew, noting Obama's visit to the Wailing Wall in Israel: "[Obama] put on his head the Jew's cap and prayed their prayers, though he claims to be Christian.")

The new al Qaeda clip is the latest piece of a larger public-relations panic. Zawahri seemed desperate to convince Muslims how awful Obama is in April, and before that, in February. It's a reminder that while the terrorist group could exploit Bush's agenda and unpopularity to recruit, expand, and raise money, Obama puts al Qaeda in a far more difficult position.

Rita Katz, who created the Site Intelligence Group, a private company that monitors jihadist communications, recently said the terrorist's hysterical rants against the president show "just how much al Qaeda is intimidated by Obama."

Update: Looks like Osama bin Laden is rearing his head, too.

Steve Benen 8:35 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (24)
 
Comments

Thank God it’s finally safe for Jake Tapper to expose the sad truth Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden slept together:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/06/abc-news-jake-tapper-and-sunlen-miller-report-the-other-day-we-heard-a-comment-from-a-white-house-aide-that-neverwould-have.html

Posted by: steve duncan on June 3, 2009 at 8:36 AM | PERMALINK

This is where the liberal propensity for being "everywhere" works against Al Qaeda. With Bush/Cheney, they had a direct causal relationship going - prod here, reaction (TERAWATT STYLE) there.

Every single time.

With Obama, prod here, WTF HAPPENED NOW!

Ask Hillary Clinton about that.

Posted by: SteinL on June 3, 2009 at 8:45 AM | PERMALINK

twisting God's message for their own twisted agenda...
getting stupid/crazy/desperate people to martyr themselves for their cause...
scared of Obama...

al Queda & neocons should be much friendlier to each other; they have so much in common.

Posted by: slappy magoo on June 3, 2009 at 8:47 AM | PERMALINK

How can he be a secret Jew when he's already a secret Muslin HMM?

Posted by: asdf on June 3, 2009 at 8:47 AM | PERMALINK

The good information about Cheney attending the CIA briefings on torture (on emptywheel) seems like another nail in the Cheney/CIA cabal's coffin. What did Pat Roberts know and when did he know it, and these meetings were the ones that said it was not known who was present. Cheney seems to have been behind every dirty trick!

Posted by: JS on June 3, 2009 at 8:48 AM | PERMALINK

Well, of course Obama's a Jew. Who doesn't know that?

Posted by: MattF on June 3, 2009 at 8:48 AM | PERMALINK

al Qaeda hates Obama. How very Republican. . .

Posted by: DAY on June 3, 2009 at 8:54 AM | PERMALINK

This is probably reading too much into the rantings of a madman. We used to criticize the Repubs for saying that increased bombing activity in Iraq was proof we had the bad guys on the run and desperate. The real measure will be when their membership dries up and they are roundly and publicly rejected by the Muslim world.

Posted by: Critical Mass on June 3, 2009 at 9:06 AM | PERMALINK

Thankfully, the Secret Service has been trained in the "Steve King" technique. Should al-Quada type approach our President, the agents will scream "Steve King" and watch the a-Qs scatter.

Posted by: berttheclock on June 3, 2009 at 9:24 AM | PERMALINK

Glad to see the GWOT has pushed Al-Qaeda into farflung, obscure caves in the Pak/Afghan hinterland. The best they can do know is release crappy cassette tapes railing against the U.S.

Posted by: Stubby on June 3, 2009 at 9:31 AM | PERMALINK

Posted by: asdf on June 3, 2009 at 8:47 AM
How can he be a secret Jew when he's already a secret Muslin HMM?

He's definitely a 600 thread count secret muslin!

Posted by: johnnymags on June 3, 2009 at 9:36 AM | PERMALINK

Sounds like old times. Cheney and al Queda (Osama bin Laden) sound the same. Fearful the Truth will be told!

Posted by: mljohnston on June 3, 2009 at 9:36 AM | PERMALINK

It well could be that Al-Q is desperate and feeling threatened. It could also be that they realize they lost their best allies in Bush/Cheney.

We know Al-Q sought to cause an economic, social and military breakdown in the US and thus reduce our global influence. With Bush/Cheney in office, all Al-Q had to do was get the ball rolling and the pants-pooping right took care of the rest, playing into the enemy's hands at every turn.

Al-Q desperately needs another conservative freak-out to carry the banner of America's destruction.

Posted by: beep52 on June 3, 2009 at 10:03 AM | PERMALINK

I just hope Obama can get Osama. Maybe with the new investigative approach to terrorism something will happen. Let the spooks find him. It would be a pleasure to see Obama open that great big can of STFU and dish it out to the neocons.

Posted by: John R on June 3, 2009 at 10:23 AM | PERMALINK

"One of the largest Muslim countries": Yeah, it's silly how conservatives are misinterpreting this, but it's not really all that accurate in the first place, even under Obama's obvious meaning.

According to Wikipedia's list of Muslim population by country, the USA has the 59th most Muslims.

There are, what, something like 140 countries? I suppose that, strictly speaking, 59th out of 140 is "one of the largest", but it's certainly not what people typically mean when they use that phrase.

Posted by: not really on June 3, 2009 at 10:37 AM | PERMALINK

It was very amusing to read this item about Al Qaeda calling Obama a "secret Jew" right after reading the post about Jonah Goldberg and Glenn Beck calling him a "secret Nazi." And let's see, of course the loony toons fringe has been calling him a "secret Muslim" for over a year. What's left to call him -- a secret Bahai? A secret Russian Orthodox Catholic? A secret worshiper of Basement Cat? Sheesh. In the meantime, the moral I take away from this is that Glenn Beck and Jonah Goldberg have more in common with Osama bin Laden than any of them will every have the self-knowledge to recognize.

Posted by: T-Rex on June 3, 2009 at 10:40 AM | PERMALINK

What's left to call him?

A secret Flying Spaghetti Monsterist, of course.

Shouldn't any communiqué from Osama Bin Laden serve as another reminder to the world that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were miserable failures with respect to the Great War on Terra?

Posted by: Screamin' Demon on June 3, 2009 at 10:52 AM | PERMALINK

"Update: Looks like Osama bin Laden is rearing his head, too."
Over Alaska, next to Putin? Oy...

Posted by: Bruce B on June 3, 2009 at 11:32 AM | PERMALINK

@ t-rex: how about "secret socialist" "secret communist" "secret marxist" "facist," "terrorist," "kenyan"......etc, etc......everything this side of "secret sauce."

and forget basement cat..as any lolcats fan knows it's "secret ceiling cat worshiper."

http://www.ceiling-cat.com/

cheers

Posted by: dj spellchecka on June 3, 2009 at 11:40 AM | PERMALINK

My money is on the next big conspiracy theory being that Obama is Secret Squirrel.

Posted by: Master Mahan on June 3, 2009 at 11:50 AM | PERMALINK

Just fine with this post until this: "...Looks like Osama bin Laden is rearing his head, too..."

OBL is dead and has been for years. So every time I see mention of his name I know pure propaganda is sure to follow....some reason for his name to be used...usually to incite fear and violence.
Any new tapes from Elvis?

Posted by: bjobotts on June 3, 2009 at 1:18 PM | PERMALINK

This mean Sharia Law and Obama being a secret Muslim isn't happening. All those Palin/McCain supporters must be losing their memories now and just latching on to the "monkey man's" pure racism. You know, the guy carrying around that monkey with the Obama shirt on it.

How do they reconcile with their emphatic claims now? Fools on parade...then lost their memories and went tea bagging for the wealthy.

Their exposure should never be forgotten or ignored...like "Liberal Fascism"...what a joke.

Posted by: bjobotts on June 3, 2009 at 1:28 PM | PERMALINK

Him? I thought Bin Laden was dead. . .

Posted by: osama_been_forgotten on June 3, 2009 at 2:46 PM | PERMALINK

"every time al Qaeda gets a little more panicky about the Obama presidency."

You mean every time you are told al Qaeda is getting panicky, or whatever. This is what you read in the NYT sourced from *jihadi* websites. That you believe these represent authentic communication from an entity known as al Qaeda is pathetic, but if you don't believe it then the implications are worse.

bjobotts and OBF both know that OBL has been dead for years. It's obvious to anyone who can rub a couple brain cells together. So who is writing these messages attributed to him, and to al Qaeda in general? Just ask yourself who wants you to believe what you are reading.

Posted by: flubber on June 3, 2009 at 6:39 PM | PERMALINK




 

 
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