WASHINGTON - Al-Qaida’s first reaction to Barack Obama’s election as U.S. president refers to him by a derogatory racial term and attacks his policies as anti-Islamic. 

In an posting on a militant Web site Wednesday, a voice identified as the terror network’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, says President-elect Obama’s plan to increase the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is doomed.

There was no immediate reaction from the U.S. government or Mr. Obama’s transition team.

The al-Qaida recording says Mr. Obama’s support of Israel confirms his hostility toward Islam. The posting shows a picture of Mr. Obama wearing a skull cap at a Jewish holy site in Jerusalem.

Zawahri also denigrates Mr. Obama’s achievements and those of other prominent African Americans: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and General Colin Powell - implying they are servile to whites.

Zawahri uses a phrase popularized by slain U.S. activist and Muslim convert Malcolm X to refer to Mr. Obama as a “house slave.”  The English caption translates it to “house Negro” - a reference to enslaved African Americans who Malcolm X said were manipulated by white power.

The personal attack also includes a rebuke to Mr. Obama for turning his back on his father’s Muslim roots.

Mr. Obama has said he would return America’s military focus to Afghanistan and the fight against al-Qaida after what the president-elect has called the distraction of Iraq.  

The U.S. military is already working to draw down troops in Iraq, while boosting forces in Afghanistan, where insurgent attacks have been on the rise.

Zawahri says in the posting that “the dogs of Afghanistan have found the flesh” of American soldiers “to be delicious, so send thousands after thousands to them.”

Zawahri refers to a specific U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan on November 5, showing that the message was taped after Mr. Obama’s election.

Source:  VOA News