Doug Ross @ Journal

Comparing Zawahiri vs. Democratic talking points

Ayman al-Zawahiri -- Al Qaeda's number two man -- released another videotaped message this week. Zawahiri's previous video was timed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of 9/11. The new video featured the firebrand cleric ripping the U.S., the Pope, Israel, and the U.N., not necessarily in that order, for interfering with Al Qaeda's fascist ideological vision.

In what doesn't come as much of a surprise, Zawahiri didn't hesitate to echo many of the Democratic Party's most virulent talking points. Compare-and-contrast:

"War for Oil"

"Why don't you tell them how many million citizens of America and its allies you intend to kill in search of the imaginary victory and in breathless pursuit of the mirage towards which you are driving your people's sons in order to increase your profits?"

Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe says he believes radical filmmaker Michael Moore's assertion that the United States went to war in Afghanistan not to avenge the terrorist attacks of September 11 but instead to assure that the Unocal Corporation could build a natural gas pipeline across Afghanistan for the financial benefit of Vice President Dick Cheney and former Enron chief Kenneth Lay...

“It is clear that the major oil and gas companies were the real winners of the war in Iraq,” stated Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) today. “These sky high profits are a clear indication that while America’s prestige in the world has been greatly harmed by the war, the major oil and gas companies repeated great financial gain...

"Bush lied... people died"

"Can't you be honest at least once in your life, and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq?"

"He betrayed this country!" Mr. Gore shouted into the microphone at a rally of Tennessee Democrats here in a stuffy hotel ballroom. "He played on our fears. He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous to our troops, an adventure preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took place..."

"There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud," the Massachusetts Democrat told the AP...

"Killing terrorists causes more terrorism"

...al-Zawahiri called Bush a "lying failure" for saying progress had been made in the war on terrorism. "Bush you are a lying failure and a charlatan. It has been three and a half years [since the arrests of terror leaders Khalid Shaikh Muhammad, et. al.] ... What happened to us? We have gained more strength and we are more insistent on martyrdom..."

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts... blamed the president's focus on Iraq... "...[it's a] misleading myth that we are fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here. In fact, the war in Iraq has become a dangerous distraction and a profound drain on our financial and military resources," Kerry said...

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Bush and Congress needed to change course in Iraq... "The Iraq war has diverted our focus and more than $300 billion in resources from the war on terrorism and has created a rallying cry for international terrorists," Reid said...

Echo Chamber

I'm not sure whose talking points these are any more. But when you can't distinguish the terrorists' talking-points from the Democratic Party's, it's safe to say that both are well outside the realm of mainstream American thought processes.

The Egyptian-born al-Zawahiri is regarded as an ideological founder of al-Qaeda and carries a $25 million US bounty on his head. No word on bounties for other Democratic thought-leaders.

Oh, I forgot. The difference is the Democrats support the troops.