Al Qaeda-related Groups Support McCain for President, Suggests Terror Attack Would Assist His Presidential Bid

The Washington Post is reporting that known Al-Qaeda-related groups are expressing jubilation over the U.S. financial crisis, support for the election of Sen. John McCain, who "would continue the 'failing march of his predecessor', President Bush.

"Al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming election," said a commentary posted Monday on the extremist Web site al-Hesbah, which is closely linked to the terrorist group. It said the Arizona Republican would continue the "failing march of his predecessor," President Bush.

On the financial crisis, some Al-Qaeda leaders are pointing to those difficulties as signs that their strategy of dragging the U.S. into an unending "war on terror" on far-flung foreign fields of battle and at great financial cost to the U.S., is having its intended effect.

"Al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming election," said a commentary posted Monday on the extremist Web site al-Hesbah, which is closely linked to the terrorist group. ***

The Web commentary was one of several posted by Taliban or al-Qaeda-allied groups in recent days that trumpeted the global financial crisis and predicted further decline for the United States and other Western powers. In language that was by turns mocking and ominous, the newest posting credited al-Qaeda with having lured Washington into a trap that had "exhausted its resources and bankrupted its economy." It further suggested that a terrorist strike might swing the election to McCain and guarantee an expansion of U.S. military commitments in the Islamic world.

The al-Hesbah website suggests the benefit of such a pre-election strike, presumably directly against the U.S.:

"It will push the Americans deliberately to vote for McCain so that he takes revenge for them against al-Qaeda," said the posting, attributed to Muhammad Haafid, a longtime contributor to the password-protected site. "Al-Qaeda then will succeed in exhausting America."

It is not clear that the commentary reflects a broad consensus among Al-Qaeda groups or cells, and some experts suggest that the postings could be an attempt to harm McCain's candidacy, due to a greater fear of a McCain presidency.

However, according to Adam Raisman, a senior analyst at SITE Intelligence Group which monitors Islamist web sites, "the comments summarized what has emerged as a consensus view on extremist sites:"

"The idea in the jihadist forums is that McCain would be a faithful 'son of Bush' -- someone they see as a jingoist and a war hawk," Raisman said. "They think that, to succeed in a war of attrition, they need a leader in Washington like McCain."

Islamist militants have generally had less to say about Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. Leaders of the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah expressed a favorable view of Obama during the primary campaign but later rejected the Democrat after he delivered speeches expressing support for Israel.

According to the Associated Press, the web message was evidently posted by a well known and "respected" contributor to the site: Muhammad Haafid:

Haafid is not believed to have a direct affiliation with al-Qaida plans or knowledge of its operations, according to SITE.

SITE senior analyst Adam Raisman said this message caught SITE's attention because there has been little other chatter on the forums about the U.S. election.

SITE was struck by the message's detailed analysis — and apparent jubilation — about American financial woes.

"What we try to do is get the pulse of the jihadist community," Raisman said. "And it's about the financial crisis."

Neither candidate for president has suggested in any way that the financial burden of fighting Islamicist terror will factor into any decision about how such terror shoud be fought. From the Washington Post story:

Both (candidates) have advocated expanding the size of the U.S. military overall, but neither has explained in detail how to pay for it.

Al-Qaeda has acted to affect a U.S. election at least once before:

Bin Laden released a video message Oct. 29, 2004, days before the U.S. presidential election, warning of plans for further attacks on U.S. targets. Some strategists for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), the Democratic nominee, have said the timing of the message tipped the balance toward Bush, who defined himself as the anti-terrorism candidate.

The deadly train bombings in Spain that year were seen as an attempt by al-Qaeda to bring down then-Prime Minister José María Aznar, who had sent troops to Iraq. Aznar lost his reelection bid three days after the bombing.

Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent reports on a McCain campaign conference call held, evidently, to head-off an uproar over the Al-Qaeda expression of support:

I just got off a conference call held by the McCain campaign to deny that Al Qaeda, contrary to reports in the AP and the Washington Post, is rooting for their man. To describe the call as panicked would be an understatement.

Jim Woolsey, the former CIA director who publicly connected Iraq to the 9/11 attacks without any evidence in 2001, and senior foreign-policy adviser Randy Scheunemann spent more time (complaining) about the Washington Post’s standards of fairness than on the logic of why Al Qaeda might prefer Sen. John McCain. *** Woolsey, for his part, peered into the mind of what he called “one individual Islamist blogger from one terrorist Islamist blog” and determined that he was “clearly trying to damage John McCain” and “not speaking from his heart.”

What was absent from the call... was any discussion about why Al Qaeda might want McCain to win. And there the case is simple enough. Al Qaeda prefers an indefinite U.S. occupation of Iraq and a bellicose U.S. all across the Muslim world to radicalize Muslims to its terrorist cause and drain the U.S. of its financial wealth — what Osama bin Laden calls his “bleed to bankruptcy” strategy. Hence, the reason why, as the CIA eventually concluded, Bin Laden tried to help George W. Bush’s reelection in 2004 by releasing a late-October tape. McCain pledges basic continuity with Bush on the Iraq war. As Scheunemann put it, “John McCain will spend what it takes to win.”

Some claim that the U.S. under Ronald Reagan used similar tactics - ramping up research and development into the "Star Wars" missle defense shield at least in part in an attempt to cause the Soviet Union into vastly increased military spending, leading to bankrupting the Soviet Union. (Others argue that other internal factors lead to the Soviet collapse.)


The Obama campaign has declined to comment on the expression of support for McCain on the radical Islamicist website.


Addendum: Headline changed from suggesting the planning of a terror strike to a suggestion by the radical Islamicist site that such a strike would assist McCain's campaign, more accurately reflecting the statements reportedly contained on that site. (10-22-08, 7:25 p.m. PDT.)

(Photo source.)