Well, it's finally happened…

[These Eyes]

Watching MSNBC . David Schuster reported that a blog connected with Al Quaeda had a message that there should be a pre-election attack so that McCain will be elected. The message actually said that they should "support McCain" so that he can continue to carry on the policies of Bush, which would further weaken the country and help them to destroy the US. No link, just saw it on TV. Colonel Jack Jacobs was on and said that the message really means nothing since we are already defeating Al Quaeda.

[Lerkfish]

1. if we're defeating them, why do they still exist?

just sayin.

[hobbit709]

2. "Defeating al Quaeda"-Like we defeated the common cold maybe.

[City Lights]

3. I read an AP article on this earlier. Glad MSNBC is covering it!

Terrorists for McCain/Palin

[babylonsister]

4. We're defeating Al Qaeda? News to me; tell that to the soldiers

in Afghanistan who have daily fire fights with them. Here's a link to the story:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7556113&mesg_id=7556113

[14thColony]

14. Rare for ISAF to encounter AQ in Afghanistan actually

NATO/ISAF forces rarely encounter actual al-Qaida fighters in the field in Afghanistan. At best there are probably less than 200 actual AQ in the whole country, and most are not there to fight. They are liaisons, advisors, and facilitators for the Taliban, and they also plan and execute their own 'spectaculars'; but fighting force-on-force with ISAF isn't in their job description in Afghanistan, unless absolutely neccessary. The Taliban is made up almost 100 percent of local Pashtun tribesmen from Afghanistan and to a certain extent Pakistan, as opposed the AQ 'foreigners' who are mainly Arab.

[babylonsister]

15. What does ISAF mean, and you don't consider Al Qaiuda

and the Taliban interchangeable at times?

[14thColony]

16. ISAF is the International Security Assistance Force

It's the NATO-led military force in Afghanistan. All US combat forces in Afghanistan (as opposed to advisors and trainers) are part of ISAF, along with Canadians, British, Germans, French, Spanish, Dutch, etc. etc.

Personnally I would not consider AQ and the Taliban interchangeable. They cooperate at certain levels, and generally have the same worldview, but they are different organizations with different long-term (but complimentary) objectives. The US Coast Guard and the US Navy are far more similar to each other than the Taliban are to AQ, but they're not even close to being interchageable, for example.

The Taliban want to re-establish what they see as the hereditary right of the Pashtun tribes to rule Afghanistan - historically almost all Afghan rulers were Pashtuns - and barring that they'd like to establish a unified 'Pashtunistan' straddling the Afghan/Pakistan border. AQ's goals are global - the re-establishment of the Caliphate and the unification of the Umma and all that. The Taliban certainly are not opposed to that, but it's not what they as an organization are about. If AQ offers them help and advice, then great, they'll accept it. But if AQ one day were to say "we've decided to shift our focus to Iraq, so we need all you Taliban guys to head there to fight," the Taliban would tell them in no uncertain terms to go get stuffed.

[babylonsister]

18. Thank you for the explanation. nt

[Dorian Gray]

17. I do not consider

Al Queda and the Taliban interchangeable, though they are both extremist. The Taliban, however, enabled Al Queda and provided comfort and a place for their activities.

[UnrepentantUnitarian]

5. I've said it many times...

The NeoCons are Al Quada's most valuable ally, and vice versa. They need each other (as demons) for their very survival and future recruitment.

[OneGrassRoot]

7. True. A very symbiotic relationship. n/t

[madokie]

9. And its been true each time you've said it

just saying

[Irish Girl]

11. Which may be precisely why Bin Laden simply can't be 'found'

Cough, Nudge Nudge. Need to keep the bad guy out there to keep churning out the fear.

[These Eyes]

6. When the talk of Obama running for president…

first began, Colonel Jacobs said something on Imus to the effect that Obams was dreaming if he thought he would ever be president of the US. He was very dismissive of Obama. So, it's no surprise that he blows this report off as meaningless. If the blog had said that Al Quaeda wanted to support Obama, he clearly would not think the message was meaningless.

[spanone]

8. the headline...AL QAEDA SUPPORTS JOHN MCCAIN

[yodermon]

10. hmm. .. I'd prefer we not go there.

Our attitude should be "why the fuck should we care what al qaida thinks, why should their statements have any influence whatsoever on our elections?"
Because some wingnut could easily trump up a similar al qaida "statement" supporting Obama.

It's the same argument I've used when Hamas supposedly "endorsed" obama, i.e. "who cares what they think? Their statements should have no currency with us." I personally think that shows a high-road approach which defuses all this "ooo terrorists love him" nonsense.

Just IMHO.

[TalkingDog]

12. And like we are defeating drugs. Because ya know, I can't find drugs anywhere....

*eye roll*

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. Yep. Al-Qaida endorsed McCain for president.

No big surprise there. They're just hoping to continue the record recruitment rates they've been setting under the bush admin. McCain being the next bush they endorsed him.

Al-Qaida-linked Web site backs McCain as president

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081022/D93VA3RG0.html