Butchers of Baghdad Commit True Atrocity (NY Daily News Editorial)

NY Daily News ^ | 5/12/04 | NY Daily News Editorial

[NYC Republican]

Yeah, that's right. The bastards cut his head off. With a knife. On videotape. Those who consider it a proper moral duty to convulse in gulping outrage at U.S. mistreatment of the Abu Ghraib detainees, please take a moment to reflect upon the late Nick Berg of Philadelphia. Berg's terrorist captors, plainly higher-minded souls than are Americans, did not sink to siccing a dog on him or forcing him to disrobe in front of ladies. No, they merely cut his head off with a knife.

Which gets to the heart of the matter: As we've said once or twice already, we'd a lot rather be an enemy in American hands than an American in enemy hands. And we're with Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who yesterday scolded those wallowers in America-bashing who would rather be outraged by the failings of the U.S. military than take umbrage at the atrocities of the enemy.

Those military failings are profoundly disturbing, bespeaking a calamitous command malfunction, and let them not be minimized. In Senate hearings, televised around the globe, they certainly have not been. Some coverup. The military has been investigating itself for months. The scrutiny continues. Fascinating in yesterday's round of Senate quizzing was the inability of the chief Army investigator and a Defense Department man to agree upon who was operationally in charge of Abu Ghraib when the prisoner abuses occurred last year. That is rather central to the question of who exactly was or wasn't ordering whom to do what.

While answers will be forthcoming, appearances do begin to suggest that, beyond the undertrained and unsupervised privates and specialists, at least two colonels and a general will be called to account before all is done.

Meanwhile, like Inhofe, horrified we remain by how many Americans seem to believe that men like soldier Pat Tillman somehow "had it coming." Doubtless some think Nick Berg did, too. We don't agree. And we'd bet that, given the choice between dog bite and decapitation, Berg would have taken the dog.

[NYC Republican]

Excellent editorial from a liberal rag... Their front page stories are so shrill and disgusting, usually anti-Bush and anti-war, but the Editorials have supported the WOT forcefully since 911.

[wastoute]

These Al Quedas are really pretty stupid when you think about it. I mean, America had just become almost paralyzed by navel gazing over these stupid photos of pseudo atrocities and they go and do something like this to enrage us. Talk about politically tone deaf.

[2banana]

Yeah, that's right. The bastards cut his head off. With a knife. On videotape.

While shouting "Allahu akbar" - God is Great

[dawn53]

I'm listening to the audio now, Glenn Beck is playing it and calling on Americans to listen to what their chanting:

"God is great! God is great! God is great!"

[nmh]

THAT god isn't my God.

Their god is Satan.

Perhaps there is some shame ... having to wear hoods and garb that hides their identity as they slowly decapitate an innocent young man. To drown out his agonizing screams they scream the name of Satan.

Does it really take a brave man to tie up a human being, who is unable to defend himself and then perform this horrific act? No. That's a sadistic murderer. Their message though, will resonate with cowards and they will back off. Truly brave people will rise to the challenge.

[marty60]

They have one thing right God IS Great, and they are going to find out what his wrath is all about. And giving them 72 angels to rape isn't it.

[NYC Republican]

No words can convey my anger at their act, their ideals, their religion, their twisted thinking.

[not2worry]

I am SICK about this whole situation! I actually went to the internet and watched the video. I cried and I will never be the same again.

Don't people see that we are dealing with TERRORISTS??? Don't they understand that it MUSLIMS that are out to kill us in the western world? They killed 3,000 people in the WTC on September 11, 2001. Have we really forgotten how these people also died? I can't stand to look at Kennedy, Clinton and Kerry any longer. They have no concept of what this whole thing is all about. Their ego's are too big to see beyond their own ambitions for power.

I pray to God that President Bush and his Administration are given the strength to hold the course and pursue winning the war on Terrorism.

[FeliciaCat]

Great article. And a huge surprise coming from the NYC's mini-me version of the Times...

[Tennessean4Bush]

These guys are demons from hell.

[sarasota]

I was numb. And the video keeps playing in my head.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Talk about politically tone deaf

They don't operate with political advisors. The jihadists don't care about our politics, only our weaknesses -- which are broadcast around the world all day every day.

They've just had the example of Spain -- where by murdering hundreds of Spaniards they saw the rest of the electorate there vote the jihadist's allies into power...and they got their way when their allies delivered.

They see America as cut from the same cloth. They see their jihadist allies, the Democrats and Kerry, making noise in America and they have the example of Spain right before them.

Expect a lot more of this to hit us, not less, as our election approaches. This is how the jihadists support their American allies, they know where we are weak and they know how divided we are (their American allies have demonstrated that capably for them). And the jihadists know that their American allies hate Bush, and those who support Bush, every bit as much as they do, if not more. The jihadists know that the Democrats will have no problem whatsoever using American dead for political victory, just like their Spanish allies used Spanish dead for political victory.

Are they that out of touch with our political situation? I'm not so sure.

[NYC Republican]

Mort Zuckerman, who "owns" the NY Daily News (as well as US News and World Report), while NOT a President Bush supporter by any means, has been a strong supporter on the WOT.

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

Yes, those mean nasty American guards at Abu Ghraib prison need to be replaced. I suggest recruiting the new guards from the Iraqi families whose loved ones were slaughtered there by Saddams pigs. Just make sure there are no cameras rolling when they are doing their "work".

[Blood of Tyrants]

Looks like someone was forced to do a reality check.

[nmh]

You know, life on earth goes fast. I didn't use to believe that when I was younger. Now I know better. I hope we catch those responsible and give them swift capital punishment. If we don't, they will eventually die since no mere mortal on earth lives forever. When that person dies, the odds are that they will spend eternity in hell. That's my consoling thought for these kinds of situations.

[xp38]

There is only one reason for the videos of the Pearl and Berg decapitations and that is to terrorize us. I had enough sleepless nights after 9/11 that I refuse to view these murders and do the terrorists work for them. I don't blame anyone else for looking but I don't have the stomach to look at this.

[Paul_B]

Sounds like Mort's been reading the Post. Maybe he's learning what a newspaper should be like?

[xp38]

The Daily News will never surpass the Headless body found in Topless Bar headline from the Post in the 1980s.