Al-Qaeda endorses McCain?

The Washington Post reports that some Al-Qaeda members are expressing their support for Sen. John McCain. Shocking, really.

“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…”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.”

Obviously, I don’t consider Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist group to be legitimate members of political discourse. Of course, this didn’t stop Republicans from claiming that a host of terrorist entities around the world were supporting Obama. But, that’s not the point here. As Spencer Ackerman writes, the real issue revolving around Al-Qaeda’s endorsement of McCain is the reason for such support-

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.

Sounds about right.

-Indira