As we get close to the election, pundits and campaign flacks are opining about who Al Qaeda wants to win the election. This time around we have a most curious situation in which AQ has endorsed both candidates. About a week ago we all learned that AQ expressed their desire for McCain to be elected. That was on a password protected AQ site (which password was most likely hacked).
Yesterday we learned that AQ sent out a videotape that wishes great shame to Bush and all those that think like him, an implicit jab at McCain. So besides the MSM being rather jaded on the whole "Al Qaeda endorsed [blank], that shows you must vote for NOT[blank]or the terrorists win," they cannot really run with this story without rending themselves in two.
First, the fact that anyone could give a rats ass what AQ thinks is pathetic.
Second...
Second, it really doesn't matter who is elected president of the United States, the terrorists have already won. That is the most pfucked up thing in foreign policy ever.
Our current pResident and his Republican sycophants have repeatedly said that if we left Iraq, the terrorists would think they won and would be emboldened. So clearly, he cares what the terrorists think. I care if they are dead or alive, or incarcerated or unimpeded. Preferably the former on both counts.
So consider the options.
- Obama is elected. Obama has promised to get the U.S. out of Iraq. Will AQ consider this a victory? Of course they will. They will think that they won a great victory against a mighty opponent. Additionally, the U.S. will no longer have a huge, or perhaps any presence in what AQ considers to be a holy land for them. Since our presence in the Middle East is a driving factor in AQ's oppostion to the U.S., our departure would be considered a good thing by AQ.
- McCain is elected. McCain has promised to stay in Iraq for 100 years. He has alternatively said we would get out if certain benchmarks were reached. Benchmarks that will never be reached. So for the foreseeable future we would stay in Iraq. Our presence in the Middle East is a driving factor in AQ's opposition to the U.S., so our continued presence will function as a catalyst for AQ recruitment. 'Come join AQ to kick the infidels out of Iraq.' So if we stay, AQ gets sky high recruitment bonuses. Would AQ consider this a victory? Of course they would. Plus, they don't have to travel halfway around the globe to kill Americans, they can just stroll out their front doors and do it with much less cost and planning. As an added bonus, the cost of the U.S. staying in Iraq will drown our country in debt, as it has already.
So if one continues to gauge our success against terrorists by whether the terrorists think they have won or not, then they will always win. They win coming or going. That was the sick beauty of OBL's strategies. I seriously doubt he thought AQ could physically beat the U.S. armed forces. Instead he goaded the Shrub into invading Iraq and Afghanistan, knowing the Shrub wanted to invade anyway for his own reasons. OBL played Bush like a punk. So did Kim Jong Il, but that is another pathetic story in the last eight years of our most not-excellent foreign policy adventure. Don't get me wrong, I don't like OBL or admire him. The man is the essence of scum. He deserves a dirt nap in a grave filled with pork, after a life sentence in a small prison cell, filled with pork. But I just cannot help but be so depressed that the most powerful man on Earth has been played by a man in a cave. That is so sad. So so sad.