Zawahiri Says It: He Wants the U.S. To Stay in Iraq

Technorati Tags: Zawahiri, Al Qaeda, Democrats in Congress, Iraq war, timeline for withdrawal

Brian Ross at ABC News writes about a new Al Qaeda video posted on the Internet:

In a new video posted today on the Internet, al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al Zawahiri, mocks the bill passed by Congress setting a timetable for the pullout of U.S. troops in Iraq.

"This bill will deprive us of the opportunity to destroy the American forces which we have caught in a historic trap," Zawahiri says in answer to a question posed to him an interviewer.

Continuing in the same tone, Zawahiri says, "We ask Allah that they only get out of it after losing 200,000 to 300,000 killed, in order that we give the spillers of blood in Washington and Europe an unforgettable lesson."

Based on the references to the bill, the tape, produced by al Qaeda's propaganda arm, as-Sahab, appears to have been made after Congress passed the legislation last week but before President Bush vetoed i[t] on Thursday.

If one starts out assuming that anything coming out of Ayman al-Zawahiri's mouth is bound to be more hyperbolic propaganda than credible information, what does he seem to think about the prospect of the U.S. leaving Iraq? "This bill will deprive us of the opportunity to destroy the American forces which we have caught in a historic trap." Sounds pretty clear to me: He wants the U.S. to stay in Iraq. He does not want us to leave. Let's put that another way: Bush and Zawahiri are on the same page.

Now, given the hysteria on the right about the Democrats surrendering to Al Qaeda, wouldn't you think they'd be just a little perturbed that Al Qaeda is actually upset about the troop withdrawal idea? Wouldn't you think they would be questioning their support for staying in Iraq ad infinitum, given that this seems to be precisely what Al Qaeda wants us to do?

Yes, you would think that. But you'd be wrong.

Here's a sampling (links at Memeorandum):

Gateway Pundit has a screaming headline: "Al Zawahiri Calls Democrat's Surrender Bill Proof of US Failure!!" And underneath, a photo of Zawahiri, captioned, "Zawahiri rejoices in the Democrat's Surrender Bill. ..."

Don Surber's reading comprehension skills are better than Gateway Pundit's but, inexplicably, giving Al Qaeda exactly what it wants is not, in this instance, treasonous.

Pat Santy joyfully declares: "NEWSFLASH:- ZAWAHIRI WANTS US TO STAY IN IRAQ FOR A VERY LONG TIME !" and wonders why he isn't more "grateful for the assistance he's receiving from ... Congress." The answer, of course -- that this "assistance" to which she refers is not coming from Congress -- cannot make a dent in the hardened layers upon layers of defenses she has built up to protect her ideology from being threatened by facts.

Cross-posted at Shakesville.