A Tangled Web

SO WHO'S SUPPORTING JOHN KERRY?



Quite a few readers seem to think that there is little difference between Kerry and Bush and that should kERRY prevail then it is not as if that will be big deal. I profoundly disagree. At one level, of course I am cynical about ALL politicians and can agree that they are all pretty useless - but at another level I am also realistic about the sort of SIGNAL the US electorate will be sending around the world this November when they decide who should occupy the White House. What do the Jihadists and their apologists think? Who would they like to see elected - Bush or Kerry?



Well, check the record. Michael Freund has a few helpful facts here for us.



Take, for example, a recent article in the Egyptian Al-Ahram Weekly (August 12-18 issue) by Cairo University’s Prof. Hassan Nafaa. Bush, he wrote, is a “wild eyed zealot” and an “evil fanatic”, one whose “departure from the Oval Office will mark the beginning of the decline of the forces of extremism and the rise of the forces of moderation.”



An August 4 editorial in the Syria Times expressed a similar sentiment, urging Arab-Americans not to make “the very mistake they made in the past when they gave their votes to Bush the Junior” in the 2000 presidential election. Instead, suggested the government-run paper, a vote for Kerry this time would prove to be “a wise one”.



On July 27, the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, for example, ran a political cartoon depicting an American soldier bleeding to death in Iraq, with his final words being, “Don’t Vote Bush”.



Notice any pattern yet?



A June 17 article in the English-language Tehran Times entitled “Pity the Next US President” was even more critical, comparing Bush and his neo-conservative advisers to “neo-Nazis” who have created a “stinking heap of a mess” throughout the world. “Kerry,” the paper asserts, “is exactly what the US needs right now.”



So, KERRY is the man that the Ayatollahs want to see elected. WHY do you think that is - and does it make a difference to YOU?