Politics Daily executive editor Carl Cannon asks what made the would-be Portland bomber Mohamed Mohamud hate enough to attempt the mass murder of fellow Americans.  It's a good question, and I'm glad Cannon is asking it, but his answer is, as you might expect, a little obscure.

Cannon provides only one explicit answer: "The geographical answer is Somalia..."  Well, okay, but what is it about Somalia?  You wouldn't know from Cannon's column that Mohamud immigrated to the United States at the age of five.

What is it about Somalia that produced Mohamud's murderous rage?  Cannon observes: "[T]he FBI affidavit filed Friday pursuant to Mohamud's arrest quoted the suspect as telling an undercover agent that he had been committed to jihad since he was 15 years of age."

Just as Cannon is getting warm, he moves on and slides into imbecility.  Cannon approvingly quotes Shahriar Ahmed of the Bilal Mosque in Beaverton.  "He's not alone," Ahmed says of Mohamud.  You can say that again.

But wait!  According to Ahmed, Mohamud has even more company than you might think: "[T]hat is the exact type of mentality that we are trying to stand against -- Christian, Muslim, Jew and reasonable people -- globally."  Thanks, but no thanks.

Scott Johnson  says, let us indeed take a stand.  Let us take a stand against the mentality that inhibits us from talking seriously about the roots of Mohamud's hate.

UPDATE:  Why is it so hard to tell the truth?  The answer leaves Mona Charen unbollixed: "The truth is that while the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful and law-abiding, there is a powerful strain within the religion that encourages murder and mayhem.  Muslims, sooner or later, must deal with this, along with the rest of the world."