Beheading Dominates Media Worldwide ( of an American Businessman in IRAQ )

The Las Vegas Sun ^ | May 12, 2004 at 8:30:26 PDT | MICHAEL McDONOUGH

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

LONDON (AP) - Amnesty International condemned the videotaped beheading in Iraq of American civilian Nick Berg, an act which Prime Minister Tony Blair's office described Wednesday as "barbaric." But Iranian radio accused Western media of using the slaying to distract attention from the abuse of prisoners in Iraq.

Images from the film showing Berg and his captors just before the killing dominated TV broadcasts and newspaper front pages in many countries.

A Kuwaiti newspaper ran a picture of one of the killers holding the severed head and some Greek TV stations showed the actual execution, although they obscured the head. The full video was posted on an al-Qaida-linked Web site.

"Such acts are unjustifiable under any circumstances and constitute a serious crime under international law," London-based human rights group Amnesty International said of the slaying. "Those responsible should be brought to justice in line with international standards."

The masked men who killed Berg claimed they were angered by coalition abuses of Iraqi prisoners. The video, posted Tuesday, showed them pushing Berg to the floor, severing his head and holding it up. His body was found near a highway overpass in Baghdad on Saturday, the same day he was beheaded, a U.S. official said.

The video bore the title "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American," referring to an associate of Osama bin Laden believed responsible for a wave of suicide bombings in Iraq.

Blair's official spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the killing as "a truly barbaric act," adding: "There is no justification for this kind of act in a civilized world."

In Greece, government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said the execution provoked a "sense of abhorrence. ... The Greek government condemns violence wherever it comes from."

Most Greek TV stations aired segments of the video, some stopping just before the beheading while others obscured the head during the execution.

Other broadcasters in Britain, Spain, China, Germany, Italy and Belgium showed images of Berg kneeling on the floor with his black-clad captors standing behind him.

"What follows is too cruel to show," said Belgium's VRT public broadcaster, which aired the video up to the point where Berg was thrown to the ground after one attacker took out a knife.

Germany's mass-circulation Bild newspaper ran a picture of Berg's captors holding up his severed head, eliciting condemnation from the German Journalists' Union.

"Naturally, newspapers have to report on this horrible act," union chairman Michael Konken said in a statement. "But the human slaughter recorded in the picture does not belong in the media."

Iranian radio accused the western media of showing pictures from the video for propaganda purposes.

"As a result, the issue of Iraqi prisoners' torture has been totally ignored by these media," the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran said.

"The American authorities too, have entered this news-making propaganda. These authorities have described the killing method of the American national as loathsome, and implicitly indicated that the American troops were justified to torture Iraqi prisoners."

Arab media reacted cautiously to the execution, with some newspapers conspicuously playing it down or even ignoring it.

Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, the big two satellite networks, aired edited snippets of the video. "The news story itself is strong enough," said Jihad Ballout, spokesman for Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television. "To show the actual beheading is out of the realm of decency."

Egypt's leading daily, Al-Ahram, ignored the beheading Wednesday. An editor said the news came too late for the paper to confirm the video's authenticity with the U.S. government.

Newspapers in Syria, where the government controls the press tightly, did not report the execution at all.

Five of Kuwait's seven dailies published the report with photographs on their front pages. The other two published brief reports. The Al-Siyassah daily ran two photos, including one with a masked militant holding up Berg's severed head.

(mm-rb-jl)

--

[prophetic]

wow!!

Amnesty International actually stood up for something for America. Honestly I'm very shocked I tell you...

[U S Army EOD]

I wonder if Jane Fonda and Kerry have seen the video yet?

[CzarNicky]

This was probably too horrific even for them to ignore.

[jocon307]

"Those responsible should be brought to justice in line with international standards."

Oh yeah? What does that mean? Time off for bad behaviour?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Me too.

Earlier report from the AP:

Arab Media Play Down, Ignore Beheading (of American businessman in IRAQ )

[GottaLuvAkitas1]

I heard they are the 2 masked ones on each end.
;O)

[blackdog]

Democrats feel this is there big chance. If Kerry's poll numbers don't start to rise soon, they will be privately begging for more beheadings and explosions on American soil.

[blackdog]

I hope Dan Rather is getting enough sleep.........

[CaptRon]

But Iranian radio accused Western media of using the slaying to distract attention from the abuse of prisoners in Iraq.

Words fail me.

[GSWarrior]

It won't be long before some people claim that Berg was actually a mercenary, as though that makes his murder more acceptable.

[shhrubbery!]

"What follows is too cruel to show," said Belgium's VRT public broadcaster, which aired the video up to the point where Berg was thrown to the ground after one attacker took out a knife.

I was startled to hear the mild-mannered and milque-toasty John Gambling run the full audio of the beheading this morning on WABC radio (NYC).

The audio, even without the video, is truly shocking and 'disturbing,' as media elites say.

I applaud Gambling and WABC radio for playing it. Some callers complained that they were taken by surprise and didn't have a chance to cover the ears of children who were listening on the car radio -- and they have a point. There should be a 20-second warning to listeners that what they are about to hear is ... about as horrifying as anything they've ever heard.

[AFPhys]

It is time for us to change our approach to these barbarians.

I had written on another thread in response to AuntB's post of: "It's time to cut to the chase here and fight this thing like a war. It's time for a Harry Truman moment. Screw the attorneys, politicians, peacenicks, Geneva Convention and the rest. Give the collateral damage 24 hours notice to enter camps. Then go in to the cities, bomb, shoot, run over any thing else that moves. Then give them their God forsaken piece of sand back and LEAVE."

I was totally with her, up until she said we should then leave. The following is an option we must now consider:

If we are going to do it this way, we ought to make the determination to make this a COLONY of the US. If we are going to do this, we ought to plant one of the MOST FORMIDIBLE MILITARY BASEs there that has ever been constructed in history, replete with all the most advanced weaponry. We take advantage of all that sand and virtually uninhabitable terrain to conduct very visible weapons testing. We use this as a base of operations to conduct all our future purgings of Islamofacist behavior. If we need more room, we take that, too. Any Islamic country who objects, we take them and their resources, too - we'll need them. If we are going to do this, we MAKE it FOR THE OIL and other resources, and take full advantage of that oil - every last drop of it. God knows we are more adept at utilizing the resources of this planet in a more productive manner than anyone else is - especially the Islamofacists - so we would be honoring the planet by doing so. Those in countries we occupy will get rich, too. There are a whole slew of African and Pacific rim countries that are crying for development of resources.

They say we are an "Imperial Power" ... let's make it so.

It is also time to do as stboz says: "Folks, it's time to start showing up outside mosques in this country. No violence....but, put them on the spot. Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists." "Moderate Islam" better show up and learn to get with us - for real - and pronto.

It is time to start letting the world know there are other methods of utilizing massive force than the way the US has been inclined to over the past century.

CUT AND RUN IS NOT THE BEST WAY TO DO THIS.

[Diogenesis]

.

[Doctor Stochastic]

It's not like al-Qaeda hasn't beheaded people before. Their buddies from Afghanistan (Taliban) beheaded a bunch of Iranian diplomats in 1996. This nearly provoked a war against the Tailban then.

[stillnoprotestsagainstmuslims]

The liberal elitist slimes are gonna have a hard time getting people to ignore this or play it down, which is why they are of course focusing attention more on the US so they can eventually blame the US.

CBS - Top story focusing on whether the US detained Nick Berg

http://www.cbsnews.com

CNN -top story "Al-Sadr vows to fight on" Yes, of course. That`s more important than Nick Berg being murdered by these animals.

http://www.cnn.com

New York Times- no mention anywhere of Nick Berg. To them more important issues are "US military attacks mosque" and "Two More Americans Charged in Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners "

http://www.nytimes.com

Moveon.org - no mention of Nick Berg. More important to them is the prison deal.

http://www.moveon.org/front/

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Good recomendations!

Lets show the Moose Limbs what the West can do with some High Tech Jihad!

[aft_lizard]

I hope dan rather isnt..

[aft_lizard]

Some already are, islamic forums are mixes some are condemning it because it goes against the tenets and others are screaming he was CIA plus a Jew plus America so they think they got a trifecta.

[blackdog]

Rather needs to become an embedded reporter. That being the type that has Pentagon Operatives embedding their foot up his arss.

Even the celebrated Abraham Lincoln suspended Constitutional Laws and Bill of Rights provisions during the Civil War.

One would think Rather would have been more intelligent, realizing that his need for a get Kerry elected story would have threatened our national interests and security.