Let's Make a Deal!

We in the West spend too much time wringing our hands about what we did to provoke jihadi anger at us. If only we could answer the question "why do they hate us?" with the appropriate guilty response that requires us to do something--or stop doing something--they would stop attempting to kill us. The Iraq War was often given as Exhibit A in this line of reasoning, despite the inconvenient truth that jihadi anger was in full force long before Iraq--or even before 9/11.

France, which would not aid us in Iraq, should have been a prime candidate for immunity; with the lesson of stark contrast of what happened to Spain (the Madrid bombing of March 11, 2004) for sending troops to quiet areas in Iraq reinforcing that thinking. As if simply being a nation that used to be under Islamic control isn't more than enough for Spain to be a target.

But France restricted their contributions to the "good war" (as America's anti-war side used to claim), so they should be immune from jihadi anger, right?

Well, no:

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden threatens in a new audio tape to kill French citizens to avenge their country's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and a new law that will ban face-covering Muslim veils.

See? He's mad about Afghanistan. Understandably, the Emir of the Nutballs doesn't agree with that whole "good war/bad war" thinking. It's all bad for him.

So would France "earn" immunity by getting out of Afghanistan? Well, again--no.

Note that the Bearded Dork says they are justified in killing and kidnapping French people because of two great reasons that explain why they hate France. One, the whole war in Afghanistan thing. And two, legislating against face-covering Muslim veils for women.

Really. The face-covering ban justifies murder and mayhem. That's a rational response, right? I mean, you'd support the death penalty for jaywalking, right?

France, Spain, America, and all the West has a choice to make. We can change our ways and actions and words and even beliefs on the big things that offend the jihadis in the vain hope that they will stop killing us, only to discover that the little things get us marked for death, too.

Or we can hold the line and tell the jihadis and those who mildly sympathize with them that we expect them to respect our traditions--especially when they live among us--and if they try to impose their views on us, we'll resist with traditions, laws, or well-trained soldiers backed by all our technology to slap them down.

Do you really think we can make a deal with these nutjobs? I'll ask again, what doesn't set them off?