French Spree Shooter is a Muslim Named Mohammed Who Fought With the Taliban in Afghanistan. Other Than That He Fits The Media’s ‘Far-Right’ Profile Perfectly

Following a siege which began early this morning, French police have arrested the prime suspect in the killings of three Jewish children; the father of two of the children, who was a rabbi; and three French soldiers.

The suspect has been named as Mohammed Merah, a French national of Algerian origin. According to reports in the French media, Merah fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and after being captured he escaped in a mass breakout from Kandahar prison in 2008.

The news that the killer is not just a Muslim but a veteran jihadist will prove hard to swallow for sections of the liberal media both in Europe and the U.S., which had been playing down the possibility of an Islamist connection, and pushing the theory that the gunman was a “far-right” (the media’s term, not mine) extremist in the mold of the Norwegian mass-shooter Anders Breivik.

The selection of Jewish victims clearly suggested either an Islamist or “far-right” connection. But while the identities of the soldiers – two were Muslims of North African descent and the third was a black man — certainly allowed for the possibility that the gunman was a racist, and possibly a neo-Nazi, it was equally likely that the soldiers were targeted because of French involvement in Afghanistan, and that their ethnicity was irrelevant.

However, the narrative which had gained widespread popularity — certainly in the left-leaning British and American media — in the past few days was that the gunman was a racist who had been driven to committing the murders by the emergence of immigration, and Islam in particular, as an issue in the current French presidential campaign. The possibility of Islamic terrorism had been barely mentioned.

Typical of the commentary was this New York Times piece, and this article in Britain’s left-wing Guardian newspaper, both of which blamed President Nicolas Sarkozy for stoking anti-immigrant sentiment in a bid to draw voters from the right-wing National Front.  Even nominally conservative-leaning papers appeared eager to embrace the “French Breivik” theme, with Britain’s Telegraph breathlessly reporting that the Toulouse shooter “may” have filmed the killings using a camera recommended by the Norwegian. And of course the BBC, which jumped on every emerging rumor, however weak, supported the “far-right” thesis.

Large sections of the media got this one spectacularly wrong, but don’t expect them to acknowledge that fact. Instead, look for them to move move seamlessly from the “far-right extremist” theme to asking what could have provoked Merah (post-traumatic shock brought on from his experiences in Afghanistan perhaps?).

When Westerners kill, it’s the West’s fault. And when Muslims kill, it’s the West’s fault. It’s Liberal Journalism 101.

Update: The police have walked back the story of Merah’s arrest. French police are laying siege to an apartment in which the prime suspect in the killings of three Jewish children, the father of two of the children and three French soldiers is holed up. Police reportedly tried to enter the building, but pulled back when shots were fired.