Hatred of U.S. Drives al-Qaida Recruiting

This report is another intelligent case for the argument that the Iraq war itself is what is fanning the flames of Jihadism worldwide. The argument was made before the war started by the intelligence community and some generals. Nonetheless, we still continue to hear the propaganda that we are in Iraq in order to stop al Qaeda and keep them from coming to American soil:

The Bush administration rejects the idea that the war in Iraq has driven young Arab men into the arms of al-Qaida. But if you believe the young men themselves, the administration is wrong.

At a Baghdad jail for prisoners who have attacked U.S. forces, everyone — to a man — says it was the U.S. occupation of Iraq that drove them to violence. And they are not alone. Across the Middle East and South Asia, the same story can be heard in Internet cafes, mosques, safe houses and prisons.

“The U.S. says this war is part of the global war on terrorism,” Saedi Farhan, an Iraqi engineer who took part in an attack on U.S. forces, said in a weekend interview with NBC News. "But people here say that the war has increased fanaticism and brought terrorism to Iraq."

Interviews with Farhan and other radicals reveal that many young men were torn when it came time to choose sides. Even though they fight alongside al-Qaida, they insist that — contrary to what U.S. officials say — they do not support al-Qaida. Many, in fact, say they hate al-Qaida.

But they hate the United States more.

Read entire article by NBC's Richard Engel and Robert Windrem