HOW AL QAEDA IS LIKE THE KLAN: Interesting observation by James Durbin:

The Klan, primarily made up of poor whites, did not have the military power to do what it wanted, so it attempted through intimidation and terror to drive out what is saw as contaminants to their culture.

Can you think of another group of people that attempts to use terrorism to intimidate and drive out what they see as cultural contaminants?

They talk about the sexual depravity of their enemies. They point to God and claim this is their religious duty to destroy the enemy. They liken the enemy to monkeys and pigs. They claim to be protecting their women. They whip mobs into a frenzy with their rhetoric. They have wealthy leaders who recruit members from the poorest parts of society. They claim their enemies are subhuman, and have no compuction about killing them.

Can you think of a better comparison in history for Al Qaeda than the Ku Klux Klan?

Indeed.

UPDATE: This post by Damian Penny calls some of the parallel into question (the rich leaders / poor followers part). And it’s true that Al Qaeda seems to have recruited from the middle and upper classes.

Damian is also continuing his one-man war on Salon with this “fact-checking” of Joe Conason.