To Combat Obama, Al-Qaeda Hurls Insults - Effort Hints at Group's Consternation

[Pirate Smile]

Source: Washington Post

By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 25, 2009; Page A01

Soon after the November election, al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader took stock of America's new president-elect and dismissed him with an insulting epithet. "A house Negro," Ayman al-Zawahiri said.
That was just a warm-up. In the weeks since, the terrorist group has unleashed a stream of verbal tirades against Barack Obama, each more venomous than the last. Obama has been called a "hypocrite," a "killer" of innocents, an "enemy of Muslims." He was even blamed for the Israeli military assault on Gaza, which began and ended before he took office.

-snip-
The torrent of hateful words is part of what terrorism experts now believe is a deliberate, even desperate, propaganda campaign against a president who appears to have gotten under al-Qaeda's skin. The departure of George W. Bush deprived al-Qaeda of a polarizing American leader who reliably drove recruits and donations to the terrorist group.
With Obama, al-Qaeda faces an entirely new challenge, experts say: a U.S. president who campaigned to end the Iraq war and to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and who polls show is well liked throughout the Muslim world.

-snip-
But for now, the change in Washington appears to have rattled al-Qaeda's leaders, some of whom are scrambling to convince the faithful that Obama and Bush are essentially the same.
"They're highly uncertain about what they're getting in this new adversary," said Paul Pillar, a former CIA counterterrorism official who lectures on national security at Georgetown University. "For al-Qaeda, as a matter of image and tone, George W. Bush had been a near-perfect foil."


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/24/AR2009012401703.html?hpid=topnews

---

:evilgrin:

[Mz Pip]

1. Poor Al-Qaeda

They lost their recruitment poster boy for their Jihad on America. Bummer for them.

[Pirate Smile]

2. I'm waiting for the standard whining that comes from going up against Obama - AQ will start whining

that the media is "in the tank" for Obama. Perhaps we will hear that he is an "empty suit" or just a "celebrity".

Heh.

[Mz Pip]

4. Pretty soon

they'll have their own show on Fox dedicated to how Obama is really not going to work out for them. Hannity needs a new partner... :sarcasm:

[Believing Is Art]

15. But . . . but

Al-Qaeda can see Russia from their house!

[Blue_In_AK]

3. Well, it's nice to rattle their cage a little bit.

I don't feel too sorry for them.

[bluestateguy]

5. "Obama and Bush are essentially the same"

The only people who believe that are Al Qaeda and Ralph Nader.

[stillcool]

6. and I believe every word.

[santamargarita]

7. Bush was Al-Qaeda's poster boy

[FreepFryer]

8. And with that, the Bushbots in USA/DU and the Bushbots in Al Qaeda reveal their identical agenda.

"Obama is just like Bush" is all these fundamentalist wackos have, whether concern trolling on DU or in the world press. They're marginalizing themselves more and more every day.

Your days are numbered, haters.

[susanna]

9. Abso-freaking-lutely.

One of my favorite lines of President Obama's inauguration speech:

"To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy."

I agree with your assertion that fundamentalists (regardless of nation) bring about the worst possible outcomes.

I hope for many unfruitful days for AQ and other regressive fundamentalist groups in the world.

[Pirate Smile]

10. That is the part of the speech that I loved and keeps going through my head along with the clinched

fist statement. It is the soundbite from the speech as far as I'm concerned.

"To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West _ know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

[susanna]

14. Strangely enough...

...I had a dream last night that kept playing the phrase that "we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." It just kept going through my mind. So i do understand the concept; and, evidently, at a deeper level than I ever gave myself credit for.

I can always hope for more rational times. :-)

on edit: I'm sleepy and missed something...

[Chulanowa]

16. It's an awesome line

It's stuck with me, as well. Maybe I'm just shocked to hear a US president speak of diplomacy as a positive option, rather than as an admission of surrender

[Sultana]

31. It's part of the speech that I remember most

I love it :)

[Faygo Kid]

11. Yep. Rush, Hannity and Al-Qaeda. All facing the same problem.

President Obama and people of good will everywhere need to take this opportunity to step on their throats. Now is when we can save our nation, and the world.

[Bette Noir]

12. Al Qaeda needed Bush as much as Bush needed Al Qaeda.

Both held onto power by stoking fear and hatred of a fanatical adversary. It's hard to demonize someone as intelligent, fair-minded, and downright *nice* as our new Mr. President.

[sutz12]

13. But....but.....but I thought they LOVED B. Hussein Obama?!?!

I'm so confused. :wtf:

[Politicalboi]

17. Wait till they find out

He's not even an American citizen. :sarcasm:

[tanyev]

18. "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

We fart in your general direction!"

[ObamaRules]

19. George Bush was Al-Qaeda's biggest supporter N/T

[ohio2007]

20. Didn't they say they were giving Obama a 120 day cease fire to see if he truely has changed ?

That is the talking point from the group in Egypt.....birthplace of #2

[AndyTiedye]

21. I think that's worth at least four tiny violins

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[jpak]

22. Breaking: Obama makes reference to al-Zawahiri's "mama", "army shoes" and "troop ships"

:rofl:

:evilgrin:

[No Elephants]

23. Al Qaida leader hates America and Its President. Film at 11.

[barb162]

24. Screw Al-Qaeda. n/t

[Anarcho-Socialist]

25. Over two Presidential Election cycles

The GOP and their media allies told the US public that Al-Qaedia were "in the tank" for the Democratic Party, when everyone outside the echo chamber knew that Al-Qaedia's good fortune were based on continuous Republican Party control.

[daleo]

26. Oh noes 1!!12!!

there hurlin inzults..

[Odin2005]

27. Is Al-Zawahiri still calling President Obama a "House Negro"?

:puke:

I want those fucks completely crushed. :grr:

[fortyfeetunder]

30. The bigger question is who put him up to it?

I can't believe he came up with this description all by himself.

[skooooo]

32. Why do they think anyone outside the US..

...would understand that term??

[Sultana]

28. How many fucking #2s are there?

Squirm al qaeda, squirm }(

[Pirate Smile]

29. kick

[Kashka-Kat]

33. You stink, Al Quaida! Take your toys and go home.

Awwwww poor Al doesn't have Georgie to play with anymore.

[PittPoliSci]

34. suck it, al-qaeda.

[Bigmack]

35. AQ is just trying to get Obama...

to say the same kind of dumbshit things Dumbya did... like "Smoke 'em out" and all those other dumbshit/macho/Texan/limpdick phrases he and his braindead followers loved.

Not gonna work..... adults in the WH now.

[Bigmack]

36. Accidental double post. nt.