HotAir

HotAirhttps://hotair.com/allahpundit/2010/05/27/obamas-counterterror-advisor-were-not-at-war-with-jihadists/feed/HotAir is the leading conservative blog for breaking news and commentary covering the Biden administration, politics, media, culture, and current elections.en-usThu, 23 Apr 2026 18:05:18 -0400Obama's counterterror advisor: We're not at war with "jihadists"<![CDATA[The Foxies are airing a truncated version of this showcasing the part where Brennan says “jihad is a legitimate tenet of Islam,” but this longer version, via the Right Scoop, is truer to his point. There’s actually nothing here you haven’t heard a thousand times before in other guises. The U.S. wants to limit Al Qaeda’s recruiting pool to whatever extent possible so it emphasizes a distinction between “false Muslims” who blow things up and “real Muslims” who don’t. In so doing, it has to reconcile two goals: (1) convincing impressionable young members of the ummah that we don’t hate their faith and (2) addressing the fact that, according to the Koran, jihad is a legitimate tenet of Islam. The obvious rhetorical move? Arguing that “jihad” refers only to a peaceful internal spiritual struggle etc etc and that anyone who reads it a tad more aggressively not only doesn’t know what he’s talking about but is actually offending the faith. For the same reason, you sometimes hear Middle Eastern pols refer to terrorists as “takfiris” rather than “jihadis.” The former is pejorative while the latter isn’t.]]>Thu, 27 May 2010 18:11:11 -0400<![CDATA[Allahpundit]]>https://hotair.com/allahpundit/2010/05/27/obamas-counterterror-advisor-were-not-at-war-with-jihadists-n169495