Al Qaeda Doesn’t Want a President Obama

According to a recent news article, Ayman al-Zawahri, an Al Qaeda leader, responded to the U.S. election by calling President-elect Obama a “house slave” who would continue to uphold the anti-Middle East policies of the United States government, and that the Democrat victory was a sign that the terrorists’ tactics in Iraq have succeeded in turning the opinion of the American public against the Iraq War.
By simultaneously claiming that Obama’s victory was a sign that the terrorists are winning, and that President Obama won’t change America’s foreign policy toward the Middle East, al-Zawahri reveals his real fear: that Muslims around the world will see in this election that America doesn’t hate them, that America is not out to destroy Islam. President Obama lived in a predominantly Muslim country; he has Muslim relatives. Even if he doesn’t endorse foreign policies that benefit Muslim countries, Obama will at least be sympathetic to them instead of demonizing them, will see them as a diverse group instead of stereotyping them as fanatics, and will consider them as fellow citizens of the world. If Al Qaeda can’t convince Muslims that America is still the Great Satan, it will make it a lot harder for them to find recruits willing to die for their increasingly far-fetched cause.