Joe’s post about al-Qaeda’s recent foray into racial commentary raises an easily-overlooked opportunity. For years, the United States was plagued in its Cold War battles with the USSR because our domestic racism was so easily wielded against our protestations of righteousness and morality. Why not learn from our own mistakes? Racial progress tends to smoke out the reactionaries, as al-Zawahiri as so conveniently demonstrated. I wonder how well his racist commentary will play in Pretoria, and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa?