Should Al Qaeda Hope for a McCain Victory?

John McCain projects an image of a military veteran who supported the Iraq war. But for multiple reasons, the leadership of Al Qaeda must be hoping for a McCain victory on November 4th. John McCain is an American hero. He has done more over a lifetime to earn the Presidency than Barack Obama. No one whether you support Obama or McCain can objectively dispute otherwise. (Here in Florida, exit polls recorded in 1998, that 93% felt Buddy McKay had done more to earn the Governorship than Jeb Bush, but of course Bush won 55%-45%.)

However McCain has several liabilities at this time which will empower Al Qaeda. Foremost among these is McCain unwillingness to use American forces to cross the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and crush Bin Laden and his deputies in tribal controlled areas of Pakistan. In the second debate McCain claimed Obama's declarations that he'd chase down Al Qaeda in Pakistan unilaterally showed Obama's naivety. In fact it showed McCain despite supporting virtual unilateral action in Iraq, in violation of Iraq's sovereignty was naive enough to respect the sovereignty of Pakistan who currently harbour terrorists that killed over 3,000 Americans.

I am with Obama on this. The United States has gotten past the point where we need to ask Pakistan's permission to attack Al Qaeada. For seven years the Pakistani authorities have assured President Bush they were chasing Al Qaeda and for seven years they have failed. Under McCain's naive strategy the US would be at the mercy of Pakistani authorities who are responsive first and foremost to an anti-American, pro Islamist public.

McCain's support of the sideshow in Iraq helped Al Qaeda recruit terrorists who hate America at an alarming rate. Yet McCain's continued emphasis on "winning the war in Iraq" and discussions of Iran seem to ignore the fact that those who perpetrated the greatest crime on humanity on September 11th 2001 are still at large. Those terrorists whose very survival threatens America are not important to John McCain. By persecuting the war in Iraq, Al Qaeda has grown stronger and American interests have been compromised. McCain's lack of decisiveness in the economic crisis of this month also demonstrated a potential lack of strong Presidential action should terrorists strike America. This we cannot afford.

A McCain victory would likely result in the United States allowing Al Qaeda more time to regroup in the mountains of Northwestern Pakistan. With a McCain victory comes more time for terrorists to plot attacks on the United States and a less defensible homeland since we will have tied up many of the most essential troops in the Iraqi war a sideshow in the global war on terror. The central front in the war on terror is Afghanistan and Pakistan. John McCain wants to tread carefully in that region while Barack Obama wants to kill the terrorists. If you were in Al Qaeda's shoes wouldn't you be hoping for a McCain victory?