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I don't want to seem less than appalled by what happened. But when we have the temerity to expect every other nation in the world to offer 100% security for all Americans it becomes somewhat ludicrous. Someone of foreign nationality is getting offed in the USA at the rate of over 50 a day, easy. If you consider all undocumented workers probably more like 100, with half coming from LA and Central Cal alone. If a tourist gets mugged in murdered in Rio does it have the same importance?

But this is different. Daniel Pearl was the youth and beauty and promise of America's future. He was the Bruce Willis character who doesn't get the last laugh. He tried to escape and failed. He was the Steve McQueen who suffered the horrible indignity of being beheaed! Because in the context of the killing, we are playing it and ascribing to it a huge meaning. This is strong indication of how we are mentally readying ourselves for the next battle. A battle where presumably a lot of our enemies are going to be smote down by our mighty hand.

It will be done. Not because of this event, even though it is sure to achieve terminal velocity. But because of September 11th and presumably Rockaway (and the other unexplained air disasters) and the USS Cole, and the African embassies and the Luxor and the Khobar barracks and the Beirut barracks and Ali Agca shooting the Pope and the Munich slaughter and the Rome Airport slaughter and Sirhan Sirhan killing Bobby Kennedy. No it's not this murder but the the string of events that clearly show another people are indoctrinated their soldiers to hate us kill us. Kill Americans. This is their goal. For this apparently it is now time for the hammer to come down on the shadowy sneaky bastards. Not the soldiers alone, but also the common man and politician who support them in their hearts and with their taxes and tacit acceptance of their regimes.

He tried to escape during the taping of an interview????? I think the escape may have been made up. How many times have we here at FR joked about catching bin laden and saying that he died en route to the US because he tried to escape and fell off the ship etc?

It just doesn't seem likely that he was doing an interview and tried to escape at the same time.

I don't want to seem less than appalled by what happened

You start out sounding like Noam Chomsky with those irrelevant statistics about foreign nationals killing each other in the U.S.

Your segue is the suggestion that this is all a Hollywood-style brainwashing to support more military action.

You end up with supportive comments in that regard.

You sound like you are trying to persuade U.S. Marxists to support an attack on Iraq.

Are you drafting an opinion piece for, say, tomorrow's SF Chronicle?