In an article in today's Globe, Peter Canellos somewhat overstates Republican candidates' overstatement of the threat of Al Qaeda in Iraq. But he is right about the general confusion on the issue.

Iraq and the worldwide jihad are really two different things. Not that we should drop our guard, especially with regards to Al Qaeda, but "Hezbollah and Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda" are primarily focused on their own regional issues. And among the groups there are Sunni/Shia, Arab/Persian conflicts. They are not one big happy family.

My take on Iraq and Al Qaeda: it's the Sunni and former regime elements that are driving the IED attacks. Sure, Al Qaeda (also Sunni) is helping but the primary target are the Shia. We're just caught in the middle. There are other factors that add to the complexity of the situation, but that's a pretty good overall description of where we are in Iraq, I think.