Al Qaeda boss Ayman al Zawahiri has joined President Obama and other Western leaders in calling for the ouster of Syrian President al-Assad.
Could this be a turning point in relations between the world's number one terror threat and it's number one target? Will we see a prominent Washington PR firm get the Al Qaeda account and start polishing up the somewhat tarnished brand?
Will we see an Al Qaeda diplomatic mission as the first step in fully normalized relations?
Well, maybe not. First of all, there's the little matter of the $25 million bounty the US has on al-Zawahiri. That could be a deal-breaker right there.
Then there are the particulars of al-Zawarhiri's endorsement of the Syrian opposition. He makes it clear that while he backs them he doesn't approve of their reliance on support from the US and our puppet states in the Gulf.
He also acknowledges that Al Qaeda is already active in the country. That's got to be a conundrum for the Free Syria cheerleaders. How do we cheer on the "peaceful protesters" without also cheering on our Public Enemy Number One?
In fact, it throws the entire logic of American anti-terror strategy into disarray. We've spent billions hunting down Al Qaeda around the world, eliminating as much of the leadership as we can by whatever means possible.
Yet we're going to support them in Syria?
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