Today while watching the news I saw that an American contractor had been decapitated with the video being publicly posted to the internet. Being the inquisitive type I decided to look around for the full video in order to full grasp exactly how vicious this action was.
What I found at the Memory Hole was truly horrifying. The video vividly portrays the slitting of the contractor’s throat and his following decapitation. This was prefixed by a lengthy speech by the militants in Arabic (I assume, anyone more knowledgable PLEASE correct me) which mentioned Al Queda and, during the killing, “Allah is Good”.
Now… my thoughts.. Well it’s hard to put into words, but I’ll try my best. Firstly, what provoked this? It would seem this was primarily provoked by the uncovering of America’s (and Britain’s) brutality on the prisoners of Iraq (90% of which were apparently wrongfully detained). Not only is this truly disgusting and disappointing I seriously doubt that the higher ranking Generals of the American army didn’t approach the Iraq War from the perspective of “Let’s get these c****s”. It’s not surprising therefore that the “plebs”, ie. those within the general infantry ranks of the American army, pepped up by their apparent hate for all “terroists” in Iraq, consequently took it too far performing the acts that they did. This in itself seems to lay the groundwork for a Holy War/Jihad between Muslims and Christians or East vs. West (I will admit this would primarily be the Arab nations, however, I’m attempting to “sit on the fence” as much as possible).
In addition I was none too surprised that “you challenged my Daddy” Bush continues to put his full support behind his Army’s Chief while cracking down on the “plebs” for what they did. Give me a break Bushy, you started the Wars (War on Drugs, War on Terror, War in Iraq, War in Afghanistan) and began the rhetoric of revenge for 9/11. 9/11 too was truly horrifying (I had two Internet based friends who died during it) but it was NOT an excuse to cause death and distruction on anything you see fit. The buck has to stop with those at the top chain of command. That’s the point of an Army (and to a certain extent a Dictatorship), have one person giving the commands. There’s a heap of GI’s in the photos (including the “General” of the prison) and I doubt they all got it into their head to do what they did on their own. How about the high ranking Generals grow up and start spanking little boy Bush?
Now…. The militants… Yes, I AM going to get to them. What they did is despicable. It’s one thing to simply kill someone (the debate about combatants vs. non-combatants is one left for another day given the American troops actions). However, to rub it in by releasing a full video including what is fast becoming similar to the rhetoric I’m used to hearing from Bush in addition to the actual killing and subsequent hacking of the head is what in my opinion changes one from being simply an angry/disappointed person/group to pure terroists. They are an extremely poor example of someone who follows a God (Christ, Allah, Buddah or otherwise). I myself know many people from many religions and never once have I seen a militant style response when raising the questions of terroism around them. To those that commited this and the many other obscene crimes commited in the world today in the name of religion. Is this the way that those who truly believe in Jihad attain Paradise? I thought that Jihad meant “holy war” – as in battle – not five people cutting the throat of a single defenceless human being who has his hands and feet tied up and bears no arms.
Finally, to both parties. Is it such a way out idea to simply NOT attack each other? If this continues for a decade (which on the American side seems to be kinda the case, just a different playing field every few years) the situation will look as hopeless as Israel vs. Palestine. Why can we not simply be at peace? Is it such an insane idea? America, accept that while you ARE the biggest superpower you do NOT have the right to invade another country. That is the decision and idea of the U.N. and NATO. To the terroists, which, according to the Western world (and this is debateble I’ll agree..) are the primary reason for the hundreds of deaths of Iraqi’s and American troops. I can partially understand your reasons for attacking primarily because America has a history of screwing everyone else (Australia’s Free Trade agreement is a more politically and money related example), however, it’s obvious that the childishness of America isn’t going to change in a hurry (Kerry isn’t as right-wing as Bush but he’s still over there :)) so why not be the bigger men and voice your opinions in publications and speeches? No, I’m not talking about “handbooks” on who to target and kill, I’m talking about voicing your opinions on WHAT is wrong with the people you oppose, not how to attack them.. Come to think of it, how about blog.alqueda.com ? Just an idea and doing so would get the support of your fellow Arabs (this is NOT meant to be a * type wildcard), the left wing radicals and maybe even the people like me (fence sitter / slightly right wing) who just want to end the bloodshed, live in peace and be as successful as possible without screwing the competitor.
And on that topic.. All my machines are Linux.
Anyways, here ends my rant.
Stuart
P.S. A final note. I searched for the video because I believe in viewing BOTH sides of a two sided coin. On the website mentioned above ARE BOTH sides of the coin.. I wouldn’t go so far as RECOMMENDING the website, but I WOULD say it provides an education with the least amount of one-sidedness. Just my opinion.