According to the insanely clueless Assistant Secretary for the Near East, Anne Patterson, our fight is against “violent extremists,” not Islamists.
Via CNS News:
The desire of some elements in the Middle East to “eliminate Islamists entirely from the political scene” was complicating the fight against violent extremists, a senior State Department official said on Monday, citing the tendency of some to “conflate Islamists with terrorists.”
The remarks were made in Doha by Assistant Secretary for the Near East Anne Patterson, whose tenure as U.S. ambassador to Egypt was marred by allegations that she was too cozy with the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood before the military ousted it last July.
“The United States is well aware that there are deep differences among our friends in this region about the future of Islamist politics and we understand the need for new thinking to address the intensity and depth of sectarian issues that threaten regional peace,” she said. […]
“Some people in this region conflate Islamists with terrorists and desire to eliminate the Islamists entirely from the political scene,” Patterson said. “Our difficult fight against violent extremists is made more complicated by this viewpoint. The need for compromise is underscored by political experience in the Arab world as well as our own.”