From the U.K. Telegraph:

In an endorsement that will not be welcomed by Mr McCain's flagging campaign, the group said that if al-Qaeda wants to exhaust the US militarily and economically, the "impetuous" Republican presidential candidate is the better choice.

"This requires presence of an impetuous American leader such as McCain, who pledged to continue the war till the last American soldier," the message said.

"Then, al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming elections so that he continues the failing march of his predecessor, Bush."

"If al-Qaeda carries out a big operation against American interests," it said, "this act will be support of McCain because it will push the Americans deliberately to vote for McCain so that he takes revenge for them against al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda then will succeed in exhausting America till its last year in it."

Team McCain held a press call to reject the story; Spencer Ackerman described the campaign as "panicked":

What was absent from the call, oddly enough, was any discussion about why Al Qaeda might want McCain to win. And there the case is simple enough. Al Qaeda prefers an indefinite U.S. occupation of Iraq and a bellicose U.S. all across the Muslim world to radicalize Muslims to its terrorist cause and drain the U.S. of its financial wealth - what Osama bin Laden calls his "bleed to bankruptcy" strategy. Hence, the reason why, as the CIA eventually concluded, Bin Laden tried to help George W. Bush's reelection in 2004 by releasing a late-October tape. McCain pledges basic continuity with Bush on the Iraq war. As Scheunemann put it, "John McCain will spend what it takes to win."

Yet the idea of Al Qaeda preferring a U.S. strategy that strengthens it confounded the McCain camp. "It is ridiculous to believe that in its heart of hearts, Al Qaeda wants John McCain to be the president," Woolsey said. "It's ludicrous." But the only thing that's ludicrous is Woolsey's expectation that the American public will keep falling for this sort of misdirection by the same blinkered analysts who blundered the U.S. into Iraq in the first place.

There's a good reason for Team McCain to panic: when Bin Laden released a video message Oct. 29, 2004, days before the U.S. presidential election, warning of plans for further attacks on U.S. targets, the White House (falsely) spun it as a Bin Laden endorsement of John Kerry. Polls show that may have cost Kerry the election.

Team McCain has spent weeks calling Obama a terrorist. Back in April, they loudly accused Obama of being the candidate of Hamas after its spokesman praised Obama. But the National Intelligence Estimates all say the Bush-McCain invasion of Iraq greatly increased global terrorism and strengthened Al Qaeda.