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Al-Qaeda Struggles to Rally Muslims Against Obama
Bush was much easier target for rallying support
By Matt Cantor
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Posted Jan 25, 09 12:48 PM CST
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(Newser)
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In George W. Bush, al-Qaeda leaders had an easy figurehead to rally against. But championing the jihadist movement with Barack Obama in the White House is a different story, the Washington Post reports. Qaeda militants are firing insults at Obama, including “hypocrite," "house Negro,” and "enemy of Muslims,” but with polls showing support for Obama among many Muslims, garnering ill will could be difficult.
Al-Qaeda is “highly uncertain about what they're getting in this new adversary," says a former CIA counterterrorism official. "For al-Qaeda, as a matter of image and tone, George W. Bush had been a near-perfect foil." To push their case against Obama, al-Qaeda has linked him to Bush policies and accused him “of actions in which he had no part,” says the founder of an anti-jihadist watchdog organization.