Posted on 05/12/2004 1:16:16 AM PDT by Barney Gumble
What cruel, sick bastards.
Indeed, you can't get much more barbaric than the filmed beheading of 26-year-old Nick Berg that splashed across a terrorist group's Web site yesterday.
In case the world needed a reminder of why America is waging its War on Terror, it got one yesterday.
It's hard to imagine the terror that must have filled Berg in those final moments as he realized his hooded captors really were going to kill him.
It wasn't enough that they slaughtered the young Philadelphia businessman like a sheep and held his severed head aloft as if it were a trophy. No, they filmed the whole thing for the world to see.
Soldiers don't behave like that.
Only cowards and thugs do.
Now it's time to ratchet up the response to this war.
Forget Abu Ghraib.
The abuse committed there by a handful of soldiers was not typical; nor is it acceptable.
But the beheading of Nick Berg is par for the course for al Qaeda.
Of course, the terrorists of Muntada al-Ansar, an al Qaeda offshoot, claimed they were acting in retaliation for the Abu Ghraib abuses.
Bull. There were no known abuses at Abu Ghraib when Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and Italian hostage Fabrizio Quattrocchi were murdered by Islamic terrorists.
And the events at Abu Ghraib had not yet come to light when frenzied crowds in Fallujah burned and mutilated the bodies of four Americans and strung them from a bridge.
No, the massacre of Nick Berg had nothing to do with Abu Ghraib.
Instead, this slaying was about the war against the West in general - and America, in particular. Indeed, the beheading may have been carried out personally by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a top aide of Osama bin Laden .
Some people - some Americans - have forgotten about 9/11.
That attack should have been enough to justify all-out war. But the hand-wringing over the war in Iraq (news - web sites) - and over even the modest steps America took to defend itself, like the Patriot Act - suggests that folks truly have lost sight of what the war is about.
Yesterday they got a shocking reminder. And now they know: This war cannot be waged with half-measures.
It can end only with the total annihilation of those who practice butchery and barbarism. Those who have set as their goal the destruction of America.
There is no negotiating with such people. There can be no compromise with those who mean to destroy us.
Yesterday, the White House promised to "pursue those responsible and bring them to justice." That's the least of it.
America has to come out swinging.
And not stop until every last one of the savage thugs is dead.
If that means a resumption of major combat in Iraq, so be it.
Would it mean another division or so of combat troops to get the job done?
Turn to our garrisons in Europe, or Korea, to get them.
In sufficient numbers to get the job done.
To hell with political sensitivities in the region.
To hell with negotiating with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf and the Sunni insurgents in Fallujah.
To hell with handing Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) over to Iraqis, as some want to do, and risking some reverse - perverse - kangaroo trial that results in his survival.
Evil, cutthroat terrorists need to be eradicated.
Let's face it: This is a job that's going to take overwhelming - yes, brutal - force. There is simply no "nice" or painless way to accomplish this.
As yesterday's slaughter showed (yet again), the enemy is bound by no moral compunctions.
America won't go that far.
But it had better steel it's backbone and get ready to fight like it means it.
It's the only way to win this war.
I'm only surmising, but I believe the terrorists overplayed their hand on this one, thinking they were delivering the "coup de grace" to Bush and the war effort by circulating this video.
Instead, I'm thinking it was a brutal wake up call to those who were beginning to go wobbly, the after-effect of the Oprah-like tsunami of tears coming from the networks over the prison scandal.
What those (few) soldiers did in the prison cetainly doesn't present a positive image of our effort there (although, to this point, there's very little context with the photos). We've pretty much seen and heard what we need to, and now need to move on to dealing with those responsible.
However, the beheading video powerfully reaffirms what we all know about the terrorists, and why we're fighting this war. Hopefully, this horrible tragedy will get this prison crap off the front page so we can get back to focusing on the real problem over there.
If that happens, Nick Berg's murder will not be a total waste.
And killed soon after Hamill escaped. That may be the real reason for Berg's death, as if there needed to be a reason.
I totally agree, target the leadership and the cells - however, in this instance I consider 25 square blocks or so to be pin-point targeting.
I think that a rate of one thousand pound bomb per terrorist leader or cell would adequately show our resolve, get the message across to any town or village willing to harbor terrorists, and get it across pretty damn fast.
It's difficult not to question your mental capacity after this comment. If the threat were really "idle," why do you suppose it is that our guys are killing several dozen of these bastards every day?
Perhaps your problem is simply that you don't like Bush. That's fine, but it doesn't justify making stupid and false comments.
This, or any other war.
I agree with everything stated in it. As far as I'm concerned, we need to stop worrying about all the sensitivities of the world and get down to the brutal reality of annihilation. You can't reason with vicious animals or lightly nudge them with a stick.
I may be criticized for this but I wouldn't mind if we stopped taking prisoners and just killed them at the time of their capture. These beasts count on our humanity and restraint. Maybe they need to be unpleasantly surprised.
Meanwhile, all the non-stop "we-are-so-sorry-for-humiliating-these-rotten-prisoners" needs to cease. Take care of the violators and shut up about it.
What should happen is to surround the town in which Berg was beheaded and let EVERYONE in there know that if the 5 terrorists who did this are not brought forward in 48 hours, the town will be leveled. And then do it. There are plenty of "innocent" civilians who know exactly where these animals are. Make them pay for not telling us.
I know that you and others may not agree and I understand the whole "higher standard" argument, but maybe the higher standard isn't the answer this time. This culture speaks a different language in more ways than one.
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