The slightly over half of Americans who voted Tuesday were pleased with the outcome. But they weren't the only ones. Ayman al Zawahiri has to be very happy, too.
He just told an al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia to take heart, buck up and stay the fight. From LongWarJournal.org:
"They were defeated in Iraq and they are withdrawing from Afghanistan, and their ambassador in Benghazi was killed and the flags of their embassies were lowered in Cairo and Sana'a, and in their places were raised the flags of tawhid [monotheism] and jihad," Zawahiri says, according to a translation provided by the SITE Intelligence Group.
"After their consecutive defeats, they are working from behind agents and traitors," Zawahiri continues. "Their awe is lost and their might is gone and they don't dare to carry out a new campaign like their past ones in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Emphasis was added to that last sentence to drive home the point. This new era of lost awe and might started when Obama was elected in 2008. And on Tuesday a majority of Americans acknowledged with their votes that they are OK with it. Osama bin Laden was wrong. When people see a weak horse and a strong horse sometimes they pick the weak horse.
Zawahir must be doing the Islamic equivalent of toasting with champagne.
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