A friend, independent journalist Brian Conley, posted to Twitter about a use of the term “anti-American” by JJ Sutherland on NPR that I also questioned. Brian noted his disappointment that the term was used when “anti-occupation” would be more accurate, and obviously true. Since then I have picked-up on more seemingly lax and inaccurate uses of the term. It seems like a trend, maybe even an editorial policy.
You may parse the term anti-American differently than I, and if it is truly that subjective, I think that only gives more cause to use the term sparingly. To me the terms signifies a general disdain for all things American: Americans, American culture, the actions and policies of the US government. I’m not convinced that is accurate in the case of Muqtada al-Sadr. When you can isolate the sentiment to some subset of those categories a more accurate term can almost always be found, or qualifiers need to be deployed.