Even if you haven’t seen any of the Star Wars movies, you know that Darth Vader isn’t supposed to be a good guy. Well, he does have a moment of redemption in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, but this follows decades of using his powers to fight, kill, and subjugate all of the Emperor’s enemies. It’s a nice ending for a film franchise, but that sort of redemption doesn’t save you from justice in the real world.
Here’s the thing: the would-be caliph of the Islamic State can’t even boast for such redemption, because he’s been relentlessly evil his entire life. When ISIS fighters carved their way across Iraq and Syria, men under his command raped, murdered, and desecrated. Those who were left alive were forced to live under the yoke of one of most oppressive belief systems the world has ever seen. Nevertheless, the Washington Post still found a way to say some nice things about him after American soldiers fought and defeated him.
We all understand the real motivation here — it’s not like the editorial board at the Post suddenly found some sympathy for Islamic terrorists that they didn’t already have. This is about discrediting President Donald Trump’s accomplishments. If Obama has been allowed to gloat over the slaying of Osama bin Laden, logic dictates that Trump can (and should) do the same with Baghdadi. That’s harder to justify when the person you killed was an “austere religious scholar”…
