Ground Zero Imam Says USA worse than Al-qaeda & caused 9-11

[DrStephenTColbert]

TheRealMafoo said:

im_sneaky said:

He said the U.S. killed more innocent muslims than Al-qaeda, and he is right. American foreign policy armed Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, so it could be said that they caused 9/11.

That's like saying whoever invented the gun, caused the death of everyone who was shot and killed by one.

Not exactly.  The speech was given in 2005, after the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  It was estimated that in 2003, there were more than 70000 Iraqi civilian casualties.  http://www.cdi.org/PDFs/CRS on Civilian Casualties 2007.pdf

If you look at Rauf's speech in context, it's pretty clear that he's talking about the comparatively higher cost that Iraqi citizens had paid at the hands of U.S. forces.  Then again, when comments are examined in context, they seem a lot more sensible, and far less hate-filled, so forget that!