Californian in Syria on video: ‘What America hates, I love’

A video that shows a heavily bearded, sunglasses-wearing man, reportedly from California but in Syria to help the rebels fight, is making the media rounds — an upsetting commentary on America at a time of high tensions and political crossroads.

A female voice in the video’s background first introduces the man, sitting among other men at an outdoor table, as “the guy with sunglasses … from California.”

The camera then pans on the man, who says: “What America hates, I love. What they love, I hate. They love Dunya. I hate the Dunya.”

Dunya stands for “earthly life,” a caption in the video explained.

The man goes on: “They love life. I love death.”

The camera then moves to a group of men performing outdoor labor and the voice says: “Then there’s this young Canadian man, gray T-shirt, sweatpants. His name is Jamal. A student from Montreal. He will never return back home again.”

The video clip comes to an abrupt halt.

But as Breitbart.com reported, it comes at a sensitive time in American politics, as the White House administration tries to determine whether or not military strikes in Syria are necessary, or warranted, and differing takes on the situation have only convoluted that decision-making process.

Secretary of State John Kerry said to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week that rebel forces, already supported by the White House, are “growing stronger by the day,” and more diverse in its membership.

He said, Breitbart.com reported: “The opposition has increasingly become more defined by its moderation, more defined by the breadth of its membership and more defined by its adherence to some, you know, democratic process and to an all-inclusive, minority-protecting constitution, which will be broad-based and secular with respect to the future of Syria.”

But Reuters cited contradictory intelligence assessments. The news organization said that many experts on Syrian matters say Mr. Kerry is being overly optimistic.