The Death of Steven Vincent -- Second Thoughts

At the time of his death, the received wisdom regarding Steven Vincent's murder was that he was killed for exposing corruption in Basra. Now a second interpretation has surfaced:

The Telegraph reports:

British officials hunting the killers of an American journalist in Basra are investigating the possibility that he may have been targeted over his relationship with his Iraqi translator, whom he had pledged to marry.

Investigators believe that Steven Vincent, a freelance reporter who was abducted and shot last Tuesday, may have angered local religious hardliners with his conduct.

The interpreter, Nour Weidi, who was shot four times in the attack, has told investigators from her hospital bed that Mr Vincent planned to marry her so she could settle in the United States.

Read it here.

The Scotsman notes:

Steven Vincent was shot a week before the planned wedding to Nouriya Itais and had already delivered a $2,500 dowry to her family.

The disclosure casts new light on the grip of Islamic religious sects in the British-run south- east of Iraq - raising concern that they will take control once troops start to withdraw.

Read it here.

The concern is real, but it is in the nature of democracy to be unpredictable. If our concern is to control the Middle East, democracy is the last thing we want to institute. But if our goal is liberation, it is the only appropriate mechanism.

The Telegraph article provoked a particularly noxious reponse from one of the most despicable creatures on the net -- Prof. Juan Cole.

He writes:

Was American journalist Steve Vincent killed in Basra as part of an honor killing? He was romantically involved with his Iraqi interpreter, who was shot 4 times. If her clan thought she was shaming them by appearing to be having an affair outside wedlock with an American male, they might well have decided to end it. In Mediterranean culture, a man's honor tends to be wrought up with his ability to protect his womenfolk from seduction by strange men. Where a woman of the family sleeps around, it brings enormous shame on her father, brothers and cousins, and it is not unknown for them to kill her. These sentiments and this sort of behavior tend to be rural and to hold among the uneducated, but are not unknown in urban areas. Vincent did not know anything serious about Middle Eastern culture and was aggressive about criticizing what he could see of it on the surface, and if he was behaving in the way the Telegraph article describes, he was acting in an extremely dangerous manner.

Read it here.

Talk about blaming the victim....

Cole's comments provoked a blistering response from Martin Kramer.

In other words, Vincent got himself killed, out of ignorance. Implication: his journalism should be dismissed.

It's certainly refreshing to see Cole slip into the style of Raphael Patai, going on about honor and shame and all that. Pentagon, take note: it's all true. (But you knew that.)

What reeks of bad taste is Cole's superior dismissal of Vincent, as if his death somehow proves his ignorance. Point of fact: you can know everything "serious" about Middle Eastern culture and never criticize it even in the mildest way, and still get yourself killed by fanatics.

Read the whole thing here, it's a masterful dissection of a truly nasty guy.

And this from Tony at Across the Bay.

[Y]ou'll note how Cole set himself an escape hatch by labeling this, "Mediterranean" culture, even though southern Iraq is as Mediterranean as Germany.

However, the Telegraph piece actually said Vincent's relationship with his translator offended "religious hardliners," while Johnny suggested it might be "her clan." The Telegraph linked it to the growing extremist climate in Basra, that Vincent reported on, but Cole is suggesting this is just default culture. Um, sorry, default "Mediterranean" culture. Had anyone else written this, Cole would be screaming "racist, Orientalist." In fact, as I noted above, he already did!

But such is Juanito's typical hypocrisy: what applies to mere ignorant mortals doesn't apply to "the expert." He hovers slightly above ground. Wait. That's just the hot air from the self-puffery.

Nice take down -- read the whole thing here.