Great catch by Spencer Ackerman. One of the leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq says that the US isn't his enemy. Iran is. Take a look:
"I personally don't have a hatred of the American people, and I respect American civilization," he said. "They have participated in the progress of all the nations of the world. They invented computers. Such people should be respected. But people who are crying over someone who died 1,400 years ago" -- referring to Shiites and their veneration of a leader killed in the 7th century -- "these should be eliminated, to clear the society of them, because they are simply trash."
Notice that the Washington Post buries this story on page A13 of today's paper. Given its implications for our wars in Iraq and on terror, you would think it might get more prominent placement. Oh well.
I've long believed that a vast majority of the jihadists in the Middle East don't actually care all that much about the US. Sure, they may yell and scream about us all the time, but those are words, not actions. Sunni jihadists hate Shia jihadists. Shia jihadists hate Sunni jihadists. Why worry about a potential enemy 6000 miles away when you have someone you can hate right down the block?
That's not to say, of course, that there aren't highly motivated jihadists who do mean to do us harm. The threat is real, and it may very well be growing. The point, however, is to learn to differentiate between people who speak like jihadists intent on attacking the United States and those who both speak and act like them.
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