If Lady Macbeth had wandered through her Foggy Bottom castle or the Westchester mansion, complete with wine cellar, artist’s studio and outdoor fireplace, mourning for a Muslim terrorist killed in a drone strike or a Muslim protester during the September 11 embassy attacks, that would have been a socially acceptable act of regret for a lost mind and heart that could have yet been turned to a moderate appreciation of a country where you can hate it, bomb it and still get an academic posting at Columbia University.
But why bother mourning for one of the expendable human drones who are expected to give their lives to remind Muslims of our respect for their culture and religion?
When a Muslim is killed by a drone, the media gathers its outrage, but when one of our soldiers or diplomats dies in the hopes of softening a Muslim’s heart, then the men and women who sent him to die with his hands tied and a target painted on his back cannot see the red spots on their soft palms.
Muslim hearts and minds are the obsession of the policymakers of the dying West, but who cares about the hearts and minds of the men and women who ride Chinooks into danger zones, run marathons in cities where aspiring Chechen boxers feel marginalized and work in skyscrapers that Muslim students fly past on the way from Boston, except on Election Day?
“Under the current Rules of Engagement, if the enemy fires on you then runs behind a rock,” Karen Vaughn told a press that was busy pressing its fingers into its ears as deep as they could go, “when he pops his head out from behind the rock, you’re not allowed to engage him unless you can verify that he has not laid his gun down… in other words you must be fired on twice.”
Today it’s twice. Tomorrow it may be three times. And then four. The angrier they get, the more free shots we have to give them to improve their self-esteem and soothe the throbbing emotions in their hearts and minds.
The press release for Hillary Clinton’s 14-million-dollar book declares that she “has redefined the meaning of ‘trailblazer’ in every phase of her career on the world stage.” Considering the ambassador she left choking to death on the smoke from a fire set by the militias she helped empower, that might not be the best choice of words.
A longer version of this article originally published at Sultan Knish.