The NYTimes is OK with Al Qaeda as 'merely' a rival of the West in Syria!

"... Is the United States acting side by side with Al Qaeda? The short answer is no. A group as numerically tiny as Al Qaeda could never by itself steer a movement as large as the Syrian revolt. And even if Al Qaeda or other anti-Western militants are seeking to exploit or direct the Syrian uprising — why wouldn’t they? — that merely makes them rivals to the West for influence over the course of the revolt.The West, for its part, is eager to deprive Iran of its principle regional ally, the Assad government....
The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood — the franchise of the pan-Arab Sunni Islamist group that won Egypt’s presidential election — has long been considered the principle opposition under Mr. Assad and his father before him..... They range from the relatively secular and Western-friendly leaders of Turkey and Tunisia to the more conservative but pragmatic and nonviolent Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt...."