A Bloody Game of Chess

From Crooks and Liars:

Over the weekend, Ayman al Zawahri, al Qaeda’s No. 2 man, released the latest in a series of bizarre videos, this time discussing his barely coherent “insights” on the war in Iraq. The video was quickly seized upon by partisans on both sides on the U.S. political divide, but one side seems wrong.

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But if Zawahri’s comments are important when they bolster White House talking points, then they’re equally important when they don’t.

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[quote on C&L from ABC News]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.”

The usual folks came out and said that Zawahri, as supported by his video quoted above, favors the Democratic withdrawal plan, and that pullout is the proof Zawahri needs to show the U.S. is defeated.

But I have to agree with Steve at C&L. Zawahri indeed wants us to stay as long as possible so he can kill more of our troops. Look at the last 2 paragraphs of the quote above. He says the bill will deprive us of the opportunity to trap and kill more U.S. troops.

Now, like Steve at C&L, I see that Zawahri is a total lunatic and really, I don't think you can lend creedence to anything he says. But the Administratiuon sure does, so following that logic train, you have to regard everything he says, even if it starkly disagrees with your current policy. Thus, it seems to me that playing into the terrorists' hands...giving them what they want...is protracting, endlessly, our occupation of Iraq.