So, Juan has retracted his silly comment about the Zawahiri letter. Well, not quite. It’s only a half-baked retraction (although, we should probably salute Martin Kramer, because this time around, Cole’s “slip of the keybord” was explicitly noted and didn’t mysteriously disappear into thin air like several others in the past!). Here’s what he wrote:
Uh huh... “Not unheard of.” Yeah, that’s right. And it’s not just a matter of “Sunnis.” How about it being used verbatim by a Salafi wesbite devoted to Zarqawi’s teacher!?
But anyway, I digress. Now, Cole is back with another dubious comment. He just had to come back and have the final word, in order to assert that despite the fact that the backbone (compare the amount of space dedicated to it to that spent on the other points) of his earlier argument was dead wrong, his theory is indeed correct. Here’s what he added:
Cole’s dogmatism has been his Achilles’ heel. And as I’ve noted in the past, it’s also been a problem in approaching Islamist groups, their ideologies, and the various identities they evoke. However, there’s more here than just rigid categorizations and assertions (“Al-Qaeda does not think in terms of nationality.” Yet, these Salafis like to add their nationality to their nicknames, as in Abu Mus’ab as-Suri, or Abu Hamza al-Masri, or Abu Faraj al-Libi. Don’t forget the hierarchy, especially in the camps in Afghanistan.). It’s actually a very incomplete (even somewhat dishonest) description of what the passage actually says, especially if read in the broader context and overarching theme of the letter. Here’s my translation of the whole passage in question:
I don’t even have to add anything, really. It’s very clear what the author is interested in and what he’s saying. On the other hand, Juan has only the rigid conventional ideological categories to regurgitate. He’s out.
