Al Qaida is doing our work for us, said Spencer Ackerman in The Washington Independent. The terrorist organization’s deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, appeared in a new video calling Barack Obama a “house Negro” who would continue what he said was a U.S. war against Islam. It’s hard to imagine a better way to discredit al Qaida in the heart of the diverse Muslim world than broadcasting the racism of its “intellectual architect.”
And “it doesn’t exactly harm” Obama politically to be insulted by Osama bin Laden’s No. 2 man, said Michael Tomasky in Britain’s The Guardian online. Clearly, this call for more attacks against the U.S. shows that “the al-Q boys are pretty panicked not to have a president of the United States the rest of the world despises. Bush was their hole card. Now there's a president who might render them marginal.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.