Answer the question of why the Islamists and Baathists are blowing up Iraqis, and you'll have it figured out. You think it's hatred of the U.S.?

Yeah. North Korea, Iran, Saddam, bin Laden, Zimbabwe, the thugs leading the Palestinians, the old U.S.S.R., the fossilized socialists of Europe, communist China, and every other damn totalitarian collectivist around the planet are going to tell us about moral behavior and how they hate us only for righteous reasons.

The fact is that the beloved collectivism and tribalism that these people have worshipped through most of their existence has turned every society that clung to it into a totalitarian hellhole, while "evil" capitalism and democracy has created wealth, peace and freedom for nations--of all cultures and histories--that adopted it. Communism was the "wave of the future," proudly hailed by many Americans as such. It did nothing but kill. The radical Islamist record isn't looking much better.

That's more than enough reason for collectivists of all stripes to hate the U.S. and the West, including too many Americans who saw their socialist god toppled off its pedestal over the past fifty years.