Of Course, They Hate Us For Good Reason

At least, that’s what the left says about the radical Islamicists who kill American soldiers, western journalists, innocent Iraqis and passengers on public transit in Madrid and London.

Some less than politically correct insight on the issue can be gained from an article in The Scotsman as summarized by Opinion Journal’s “Best of the Web:”

The Scotsman has an explanation for the murder in Iraq of journalist Steven Vincent. See if you can finish this sentence:

An American journalist who was shot dead in Basra last week was executed by Shiite extremists who . . .

. . . had been worn down by grinding poverty?

. . . were angry over Israel’s treatment of Palestinian Arabs?

. . . resented the presence in their country of foreign troops?

. . . sought to avenge the abuses at Abu Ghraib?

If you said any of the above, you’re wrong. Here’s the full sentence:

An American journalist who was shot dead in Basra last week was executed by Shiite extremists who knew he was intending to marry his Muslim interpreter, it has emerged.

That’s right, Steven Vincent was killed to prevent him from intermarrying. Those Westerners who side with the “Iraqi resistance” against America and its allies are defending the equivalent of the murder of Emmett Till.

The simple reality is that the left in the U.S. and Europe are largely projecting their own hatred of democratic capitalism onto the Islamic radicals. Their logic seems to be “since we hate democratic capitalism for these reasons, and they also hate democratic capitalism, they must agree with us.” In reality, the Islamicists are in an equally pathological but very different world.