AQ's New Threat Against Bush & Musharraf

ABC News has the video over here. The report from the Blotter is here:

A new al Qaeda propaganda ad, headlined "Wait for the Big Surprise" and featuring a digitally altered photograph of President George Bush and Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf standing in front of a burning White House, was posted on the Internet today.

The brief clip from al Qaeda's "as Sahab" propaganda arm juxtaposes the doctored photo of Bush and Musharraf along with previously seen images of al Qaeda's top leadership -- Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahri and Adam Gadahn -- as well as a photo of an SUV in a motorcade.

There is no additional information provided in the ad, and it closes with the words, "Soon -- God willing," written across the screen and repeated several times.

Threats have been made and 'chatter' has risen numerous times since 9/11. Even as a stopped clock is right twice a day, so such warnings will eventually precede a successful attack. Nevertheless, this gets added to the pile of circumstantial warnings of a major planned attack.

I have to disagree with Ace though, on the effect of another terrorist attack in the US. I tend to think -- perhaps cynically -- that the 'rallying around' the President -- be it Bush or Cheney -- will be comparatively short-lived. This is particularly true given that we're bearing down on a presidential election. I fear that it would not be long before critics of the War on Terror would feel comfortable arguing that the successful attack was due to a failure to 'connect the dots,' and because our troops were tied down in Iraq, and that we had created too many new jihadists by our actions in the Middle East.

I hope we never learn which is closer to the truth.