Al Qaeda Boss Still Hates Obama, Pleads with Other Followers to Hate Him Too

by Teh Nutroots |  Unsurprisingly, Ayman Zawahri -- who referred to Obama some time back as a "house negro" -- claims he doesn't much care for the bombings in Pakistan or the increased presence in Afghanistan.  Being who he is, he prefers threats to go medieaval on our collective arse to reasoned discourse or debate. 

CBS has the scary quotes:

America brought us a new face, trying to deceive us yet again. A face that calls for change, but it’s rather calling for us to change, to give up our faith and our rights,” says Zawahri, adding that Mr. Obama’s victory in the U.S. presidential election was an acknowledgement by the American people of, “the failure of the policies of Bush and his gang.”

Zawahri warned that Mr. Obama's "surge" of troops to Afghanistan will only make things worse. “What Obama is seeking to do by increasing the U.S. forces in Afghanistan and continuing to bomb Pakistan will only add more fuel to the fire and expose your soldiers to more killings and injuries."

"What Obama has claimed about negotiating with moderate Taliban is an illusion that he is fooling you or himself with,” added bin Laden's deputy.

Yglesias:

Perhaps the best thing that ever happened to the relatively small group of people known as al-Qaeda was the rise to power of George W. Bush, whose brutality, stupidity, and mendacity managed to do an enormous amount to discredit American power and to push those already inclined to be skeptical of the United States further in the direction of hostility and radicalism. Just a few months of new leadership haven’t undone all the damage...but there’s already a new atmosphere clearly in the air and you can see it in the new defensiveness of al-Qaeda about the American president....

[A]s you can see here, al-Qaeda’s leaders are intensely worried about these dynamics. As well they should be. A United States that moves beyond torture and arbitrary detention, that engages respectfully with the Muslim world, the produces some meaningful improvements in the situation in Palestine, and that seeks to advance its security interests on fair terms that are broadly compatible with the interests of others will be a much more formidable adversary than the United States of the George W. Bush years.

Steve Benen agrees:

Zawahri's public-relations panic fits in nicely with the larger trend (indeed, Zawahri was similarly defensive about Obama in early February). Al Qaeda leaders were able to exploit George W. Bush's policies to recruit, expand, and raise money. The terrorist network is now in a much tougher position, not only in light of Bush's departure, but also with Barack Obama's international popularity. The very last thing al Qaeda wanted was a U.S. president who enjoys global admiration -- and that's exactly what they're responding to.

The result is a terrorist network with panicky pleas, urging followers and potential sympathetic ears to think of Bush and Obama as one in the same -- reality notwithstanding.

Memeorandum here.

See:    Al Qaeda & the GOP Taunt Obama, Hurl Insults, Look Wistfully Back on the Bush Regime, Hope for an Epic Fail [Jan. 29, 2009]

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