Al Qaeda's Top Recruiting Sergeant

Monday, BBC NEWS reported a story I haven't seen in the blogs or US press:

"If anyone's ready to celebrate the eventual re-election of Bush, it is none other than al-Qaeda," Sir Ivor [Roberts, the British Ambassador to Italy] was quoted as saying by the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

It reported he also told the meeting of British and Italian politicians, bankers, academics and journalists in Tuscany: "Bush is al-Qaeda's best recruiting sergeant."

This is perhaps a condensed version of the Asia Times story, "Why al-Qaeda votes Bush" from February 2004.

The BBC notes that Sir Ivor thought he was speaking off-the-record.