"She appealed to a small crowd that had gathered around her crew but nobody was willing to help her."
This is the real problem with the Iraqis, not merely the beheading of a journalist, the fact that the people that do this can do whatever they want, and the people let them do it.
Iraq will never be stable while Iraqis just don't seem to care.
Most people act as these unwilling Iraqis did. If most people think they'll be hurt or killed helping another, even a crowd, they will step back.