Buried in the 6th paragraph of Karen DeYoung's
frontpage WaPo story today is this juicy little tidbit:
Although terrorist groups in Iraq and elsewhere have long been described as having al-Qaeda links, none of the significant attacks carried out since Sept. 11 has been proved to have been directly authored or orchestrated by the group. Instead, intelligence agencies here and in Europe have described bin Laden as providing "inspiration" to a new generation of "radicalized" Muslim youth spurred by their cultural isolation in the West and their solidarity with Islamic battles in the Middle East. U.S. intelligence officials now identify the war in Iraq as the single most effective recruiting tool for Islamic militants.
(Emphasis mine).
So let me get this straight, the Washington Post and U.S. intelligence officials are actually copping to this? I mean, common sense leads you to the same conclusion, but I was under the impression that America was in denial of this obvious fact. To me it's big news that this has actually been written down. I can't believe they nonchalantly slipped that in there as though it's just accepted fact. Actually, I can, but it disgusts me.