A Strange Bush Endorsement

Who are the puckish wits behind the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades? They claim to be connected with al-Qaida, and they've taken responsibility for events (such as the recent Madrid blast and the power outages last year) they probably had nothing to do with. Many believe this is a paper organization. Disinformation at work?

Check out the analysis here. The piece quotes Peter Bergen as saying that some al-Qaida splinter groups may be waging psychological warfare. But Robert Fisk (see earlier post) reports that al-Qaida is just as confused by these guys as everyone else is.

Whoever they are, they certainly have a morbid sense of humor. In their latest communication, they've come out in favor of George Bush's re-election, because they consider it impossible to find a leader "more foolish" than Bush, "who deals with matters by force rather than with wisdom." They say they consider Kerry more of a threat: "Kerry will kill our nation while it sleeps because he and the Democrats have the cunning to embellish blasphemy and present it to the Arab and Muslim nation as civilization. Because of this we desire...(Bush) to be elected."

Very funny, but it all leaves me wondering. If these al-Masri guys are fakes, what are they up to?

When they wrote a letter falsely taking responsibility for the Madrid blast (apparently the work of another al-Qaida-linked group -- a real one), they helped to unseat Anzar's Popular party. As detailed below, the government rapidly lost credibility when Anzar blamed ETA -- sans evidence -- while clues pointing to Islamic extremists started to pile up. One of those clues was the letter from our old friends at the al-Masri brigades.