So it seems that Robert Gibbs today inelegantly tried to distinguish between al-Qaeda and the Taliban -- sigh, that shouldn’t have been too difficult -- and in
“„Jihadist is seen as a derogatory term for mujahid, which is Arabic for freedom fighter. A search through transcripts going back to January shows the word or any version of it had not previously been uttered from the Obama White House podium.
“„Nor does President Obama see this challenge as a fight against “jihadists.” Describing terrorists in this way—using a legitimate term, “jihad,” meaning to purify oneself or to wage a holy struggle for a moral goal—risks giving these murderers the religious legitimacy they desperately seek but in no way deserve. Worse, it risks reinforcing the idea that the United States is somehow at war with Islam itself. And this is why President Obama has confronted this perception directly and forcefully in his speeches to Muslim audiences, declaring that America is not and never will be at war with Islam.