Subtle Distinctions

From the Pentagon briefing about the attack in Mosul:

GEN. MYERS: This attack, of course, is the responsibility of insurgents, the same insurgents who attacked on 9/11, the same type of insurgents who attacked in Beirut, the same insurgents who -- type of insurgents who attacked the Cole, Khobar Towers, and the list goes on.

Am I the only one who thinks it says something bad about the sophistication of our dealings in the Middle East that General Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, conflates all these attacks, as well as the concepts of "terrorist" and "insurgent"? Granted, he's not supposed to be the guy making policy, but shouldn't he be able to tell the targets apart? Sure, they are extremists, but there are lots of different kinds of extremism, and driving motives behind them. And using the word "insurgents" for 9/11 really suggests a whole level of US global hegemony that I don't think he really wants us to get into. I guess the folks around the Pentagon aren't making much progress on that "why do they hate us" question.