The NYT is taking questions about its use of anonymous sources.

This seems like an ideal moment to take on the NYT for its routine evidence-free assertion that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is "homegrown". I sent a letter to askthetimes@nytimes.com asking about this. The text of my Email is below. If I receive any reply, I will post it here.

The NYT has routinely described Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia as "homegrown".

http://query.nytimes.com/beta/search/query?query=homegrown+Qaeda+Mesopotamia&srchst=cse

What is the evidence for this assertion? And why does the NYT routinely make this assertion without examining the extensive evidence that Al Qaeda in Iraq is a part of Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda:

* Would a "homegrown" organization choose a foreign leader?
* The Suicide bombers of Iraq are mostly foreigners. The biggest group is Saudi. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/22/world/middleeast/22fighters.html?pagewanted=print
* Yet the senior American military officials said they also believed that Saudi citizens provided the majority of financing for Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. "They don't want to see the Shias come to dominate in Iraq," one American official said. [From the above article]
* In response to various questions regarding the structure and relationship between the various "Emirates" in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, al-Zawahiri explained, "the Islamic State of Iraq [an Al Qaeda front group], the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan-and I would add to them the Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus-are individual Islamic emirates that do not yield to a single ruler… Shaykh Usama Bin Laden is a soldier of the Emir al-Mumineen, Mullah Mohammed Omar, may Allah protect him, and all of those you have cited help and cooperate with each other in order to support Islam and the jihad." Al-Zawahiri was also quick to defend Al-Qaida factions in Iraq, Algeria, and Afghanistan in the face of various critics. According to Dr. al-Zawahiri, "the methodology of the Islamic State of Iraq [is] among the purest banners and methodologies in Iraq… I ask those who have doubts about the Islamic State of Iraq: what is the point of destroying an Islamic state that has arisen after such a long wait in the heart of the Muslim world?" http://www1.nefafoundation.org/documents-aqstatements.html
* The Conflict between the Islamic State in Iraq and the Islamic Army in Iraq. The Islamic Army's complaints about the Islamic State basically amounted to that the Islamic State was a foreign group with foreign goals. [references easy to find via google]

If you are not yet convinced, I could provide more evidence.