Certain right-wing blowholes, both
here and in
Europe, want to use the mass murder terrorist attack on the French satirical weekly
Charlie Hebdo as but the latest excuse to vent their unhinged hatred: it's Obama's fault, it's multiculturalism, it's Islam, etc., etc. Isis isn't in the headlines anymore, Ebola did not turn into a pandemic in the West, so for the unhinged right, the latest reason to spew their bile is a mass murder in France. Reporters for the French government's
Channel 24 news service offer some facts:
French authorities have released photos of the two main suspects, identified as Cherif Kouachi, 32, and his 34-year-old brother, Said.
The names and pictures of the two lead suspects have been widely disseminated. Their backgrounds have not. The orphaned sons of immigrants, the Kouachi brothers no doubt had a difficult upbringing. In 2005, Cherif Kouachi was arrested, and in 2008 brought to court for alleged involvement with terrorist networks. But before that, he had been a pizza deliveryman, and before that, in his own words, a delinquent. As his lawyer explained, he had been a drinker, a smoker, and his interest had been in football. News reports from around the time of his arrest and court appearance described him as having been a pot smoker, and as having had a girlfriend before marriage. And then something happened.
But the 2003 US invasion of Iraq – and especially the photographs emerging from Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib jail of US troops taunting Muslim prisoners – rapidly changed that profile.
Yes, as the usual suspects blither about Obama and liberalism and everything else, the reality is that these two young men were radicalized because of the Bush administration's wars and abuses. Unlike some on the right, we will say explicitly that nothing justifies the horrors these two young men allegedly perpetrated. But it's no secret that the reactionary war policies of the Bush administration and its lapdog Blair government in Britain
increased radicalization of vulnerable populations and
undermined American national security. Indeed, just last month,
The Guardian's
Martin Chulov reported that the ISIS terrorists themselves created their network "inside an Iraqi prison—right under the noses of their American jailers." In other words, if those right-wing blowholes really want to find someone other than the murderers themselves to blame for Wednesday's horrors in Paris, they could start by looking in the mirror.