A fascinating article by Zuheir Abdallah is called "Why Do Arabs Hate the West, Especially the U.S.". Abdallah is a columnist for the London paper, Al-Hayat. He has some interesting things to say to his Arab brethren. Abdallah says that Arabs hate “the West”, including the United States for reasons including the Crusades. He goes on the remind Arabs that they invaded Europe long before the Crusades. I would like to remind those same Arabs, and Mr. Abdallah, that the United States was not even in existence at the time of the Crusades. Now I know that, if you hate someone, you feel like you don’t need logical reasons. But this is going a little far. How can you hate a country for something with which it had nothing to do?

Could I just remind you that the Crusades originated in Europe and, especially, with the Pope, who is in Vatican City, effectively Rome. That is why they call it the Roman Catholic Church (that and the fact that they tried for years to continue the Roman Empire in the Church, but that is another blog.) If you guys are mad about the Crusades, leave the U.S. out of it. We weren’t there. Absolutely no Americans fought in the Crusades. You heard it here.

Abdallah points out another sad fact. Arab fascism and radical Islam have hindered the progress of Arab nations. While most nations have made tremendous progress in the last 50 years, Arab nations have often regressed. To divert their people from the truth of responsibility, their leaders blame the mystical West. (It always sounds like Tolkein when these guys talk. It is "the West" who keeps us down. It sounds like one of the elves saying “I must go to the West”, although better because you know they don’t intend to kill someone when they get there.)

Maybe there is some hope that Arabs will wake up and smell the coffee. Few countries make significant economic progress without freedom and democracy. The liberal Arab states have done better economically than the radical ones, except for those in charge. The sad fact of Communism and Fascism is that the leaders always live really well and the common men suffer tremendously. In a democracy, there are always rich and poor, but everyone has a chance. That is why America is full of success stories, and why immigrants, including millions of Arabs, come and work and thrive. Our society is full of immigrants who came here not even speaking English and rose to own homes and businesses, send themselves or their children to college, and even get rich. Even people from "the East". How many people have moved to Saudi Arabia, Iran, or other radical Islamic countries and accomplished that? I’ll bet not many.