One week ago, the U.S. Defense Department quiety released a report highly critical of the Bush administration’s war on terror and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Produced by the Defense Science Board, an advisory committee established to give the Secretary of Defense independent advice, the report says the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have served to unite previously divided Muslim extremists and raise the stature of terrorists organizations like Al Qaeda.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, the document also reports that “Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies.” Piling on the limited number of news stories and coverage of this critical document, Al Jazeera added that the report also claims the U.S. is failing “to promote its policies to Muslims wary of American intentions and hypocrisy.” This latter statement is, of course, no surprise to Americans who still don’t understand the administrations policies and intentions.