Robert Fisk: Al-Nusra is pitching for US backing. But can there be a ‘moderate’ Islamist terror group?

It’s an obvious pitch. Just when the Americans are frothing around for something sane to say about their non-existent policy in the Middle East, along comes the al-Nusra Front – al-Qaeda beheaders and sectarian killers – to suggest that they are just the “moderates” Washington wants to fight the Assad regime in Syria. The word comes from the boss himself. Is al-Nusra anxious to attack the West? Think not of it. An enemy of the Christians, Alawites and other minorities in Syria? Perish the thought. Syria’s minorities can come “into the bosom of Islam”. And al-Nusra believes the “Islamic State/Islamic Caliphate/Isis/Isil/Daesh” is “illegitimate”.