When Kos (a veteran of the U.S. military) put up an intemperate blog post about the private security contractors who were killed and mutilated in Fallujah ("They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them"), he incurred the wrath of not only the right-wing blogosphere but also the likes of James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal.

Well, a week later there are Japanese hostages in Iraq, and their captors may burn them alive.

Guess who's not merely dissing the hostages but openly playing Blame the Victim?

From Free Republic:

ANTI-USA/PRO-ACTIVIST JAPANESE WEBSITE OF JAPAN 'HOSTAGE' FOUND/TRANSLATED (IRAQ)

...This is the last e-mail dispatch (yesterday) in Japanese by Mr. Imai, who is reported to have been taken hostage and threatened with death by terrorists in Iraq, along with (2) other young Japanese.

The writings are on a Japanese language website that gives strong indication that the kidnapped Mr. Noriaki Imai was connected to an anti-American, pro-peace activist group in Japan, with activities centering on "DU" (depleted uranium) and the US mission in Iraq.

(Apparently, being concerned about depleted uranium makes one automatically anti-American. Someone needs to tell the four New York Army National Guard soldiers with DU poisoning, and the New York Daily News, which has been reporting on their plight.)

Also from Free Republic:

About those Japanese "Hostages"...

This story is just beginning to break, but the so-called Japanese hostages may actually be a staged event by leftist Japanese anti-war protesters operating inside Iraq.

The source for this is a comment at the frothing right-wing blog Little Green Footballs (LGF). A Japanese commenter at another LGF thread says of hostage Noriaki Imai that "he and others had [the] same interest as the terrorist who kidnapped them." He cites Japanese Web pages as the smoking gun proving this pro-terrorist allegiance; here's one such page, with some text in English -- text that seems to be messages from Iraqis:

title: I'm Iraqi guy in Baghdad Are you really going to send Japanese troops to Iraq? Well, if you want my opinion, please don't. Because we do not want to see Japanese soldiers get killed in Iraq.If you really want to help us, come and get over here. And help us rebuild our country, but not with your weapons, but with your technology & industry. P.S. I feel really sad for the murder of 2 Japanese persons in Tikrit, because I have many Japnese friends.

Now I write you the comment of my friend; "Japanese government must not always follow the US government, but it must take its own decisions" Dia Al Dulaimi Taxi driver in Baghdad

Dia Sulaibi Baghdad, Iraq

We are welcome to get friends from all over the world. They are thinking about Iraqi people. And we want them as a friend, not as army. Kadum Abid Age30 Doctor ...

And on and on in that vein.

How appallingly anti-American! They dared to publish anti-occupation e-mails. Screw 'em. Burn 'em alive.