To come to the conclusion that Imam Rauf thinks “America is worse than Al Qaeda,” you have to ignore everything else he’s written, and all the time he’s spent condemning Al Qaeda and promoting an American version of Islam both in the US and overseas, and the fact that he has lived and worked in New York as a Sufi Muslim for decades.

Imam Rauf’s statements about America’s image in the Muslim world are no different than Ron Paul’s. Or any writer at The Nation’s.

But using this opinion to try to portray him as some kind of “stealth jihadi” is beyond ludicrous. I’d argue with him over that interpretation, but he’s entitled to his opinions without being accused of being a secret agent for the jihad.