Posted on 09/01/2006 6:45:16 AM PDT by Guard Dog
"... disbelievers will be cast into an eternal fire. But Allah is also ever merciful, and the West can change its ways and turn to the purifying power of Islam ..." -- Kidnapped Fox reporter Steve "Khaled'' Centanni, channeling his captors.
We don't often get to watch our media people convert to Islam, so the footage of Fox News' Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig has been riveting.
Some people can't get enough of watching planes fly into the World Trade Center towers; I can't get enough of Centanni and Wiig pledging allegiance to Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him.
The common thread between the two is disbelief. I keep rerunning the tapes, now posted on the Web, trying to read the kidnapped men's body language and translate the meaning of deep breaths and eye movements.
Trying, alas, to imagine being in their place.
As everyone knows, reporter Centanni and cameraman Wiig were released several days ago after being seized in Gaza City by masked gunmen and held hostage for 13 days.
It's not clear exactly who their kidnappers were, whether part of the Holy Jihad Brigades, as claimed, or whether they had ties to Hamas or the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah.
You need a scorecard to keep up with all the region's disaffected. Apparently, when three or more angry Muslims gather in a garage, a new jihadist group is born.
What's perfectly clear is that video is the new weapon of mass destruction. A billion people manipulated into religious frenzy is a formidable force. It is also clear that the West's continued existence -- at least from the perspective of Islamist militants -- depends upon our willingness to bow to Islam.
Those two conclusions are made possible by the images of Centanni and Wiig holding up an index finger and proclaiming allegiance to the Prophet Muhammad.
Says Centanni: "My name is Steve. I'm an American. After I entered Islam, I changed my name to Khaled. I have embraced Islam and say the word Allah, and my leader is the Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him.''
Wiig -- new name "Ya'aqob'' -- repeats the liturgy.
Then the two men proceed to read a script outlining all the reasons why the West is wrong -- from invading Afghanistan and Iraq to the tortures of Abu Ghraib. They also ask that all prisoners be released from Guantanamo and that President Bush cease referring to Islamic fascists as "Islamic fascists.''
It's not nice, and it makes the kidnappers mad.
"Yeah, they were very angry about that,'' said Wiig in an interview after his release.
In his role as Khaled, Centanni said he hoped to help Westerners see the light of Islam, which "helps people to love mercy, brotherhood, equality and justice.'' Especially -- we can't help filling in for him -- when a gun is pointed at one's head. Or a knife poised at one's throat.
One of Wiig's interrogators, a dark figure framed by two AK-47s and with a bayonet at his feet, provided a grim reminder that death is always an option for uncooperative infidels. Thus, the journalists did what they thought necessary to survive.
Obviously, none of us can imagine what we'd do under similar circumstances. Yet despite our empathy and relief at the men's release, there is nevertheless something about that video -- of seeing those two decent, open-hearted Western men surrendering to these lowlife fanatics -- that makes me want to take a shower.
How dare those thugs lecture Westerners about the loveliness of Islam while forcing religious conversion at gunpoint?
Their objective was clear from the beginning, according to Centanni and Wiig. They wanted a video. The two Fox journalists were far more valuable shown as cowardly Westerners converting to Islam than as severed heads on the tip of a dull knife.
Let me be clear: I don't think they were cowards. But those who are willing to strap explosives to their bodies -- or enlist their children to become suicide bombers -- surely see them, and us, that way. It is easy to imagine that rancorous Muslims are as attuned to the video as we are, watching replay after replay in the smug satisfaction that they have scored another victory against the infidel and the Great Satan.
Those few minutes of choreographed horror affirm for the Islamic world that Westerners are weak, while they reiterate the jihadist's message to the West:
Convert to Islam -- or die.
The truth is when 2 or 3 muslims get upset or angry, a lot of people die.
I think Centanni owes it to the public to refute his "conversion".
Absolutely! I'd take a bullet to the brain any day over converting to Islam.
As a Christian, I hope I would be able to endure until death. As the mother of four children, I know that I would want to make it back to see them again. If I did submit, I know I would feel shame for the rest of my life, but I also know that God would forgive me if I truly repented.
As for Steve and Olaf, I am getting tired of the blame-the-victim mentality. Do we criticize rape victims for not fighting back hard enough? Do we say they brought it on themselves? I'm old enough to remember when such attitudes were common. Instead of blaming Steve and Olaf for not becoming martyrs, maybe we should blame the barbarians who put them in that situation.
I don't know if Centanni and Wiig are Christians. If they are, and denied Christ to save their mortal skins, they could be denied later.
My head would be on a plate by now.
A bullet to the brain, absolutely. A knife to the throat? I'd like to think that I would hold firm (maybe sing a little "Battle Hymn of the Republic") but it's hard to say.
May I suggest Matthew 5:44 instead. Otherwise I agree with you totally, including personal doubts about being able to live up to the examples of martyrs.
Heh, Jesus was perfect. I am definitely not!
Oh I don't blame them at all. I just wonder what I would have done.
Why in the world is this reporter putting "Peace be upon him" in this sentence? Is she a muslim? If not why in the world would she include that in the sentence?
I know I'm imperfect enough to be looking for an opening to personally place that bayonet where you would suggest they put it.
Peter denied him three times.
I know. I think this should be a wake-up call to all Americans , especially Christians, to start thinking about what we would do in this situation. We probably should be discussing with our families what we ought to do if we find ourselves in this spot. My husband says he expects me to do whatever I have to in order to be freed. But in reality, I could convert and still end up beheaded, so do I want to face God like that, or have my children remember me denying God with my final breath? I really hate that we have to worry about these things, but millions of other Christians do every day. God never promised us that it would be easy, only that He would be with us throughout our ordeals.
Don't forget the Inquisition either.
I can say without a doubt right now while sitting in my comfortable chair, basking in the glow of my desk lamp while conversing with friends through toggling little electrons that yes, I would stand up to these folks and not deny my Savior.
However, replacing my desk lamp with an angry jihadist, my laptop for his scimitar and my flat screen with an AK47...I pray that my faith would hold me fast and I, like my ancestor John Hus, would faithfully commit my life into the Hand of my God.
http://kalaniosullivan.com/KunsanAB/VMF513/Howitwasa1a1.html
http://kalaniosullivan.com/KunsanAB/VMF513/Howitwasa1a1.html
Col Frank Schwable USMC, POW Korean War....
Germ Warfare:
At the height of the Chinese allegations of the 3rd Bomb Wing at Kunsan dropping bacteriological weapons on North Korea and China, another flyer "confessed" to this crime. This time it was a Marine Colonel who accused the VMF(N)-513 of also participating in bacteriological warfare. His "confession" and another's were distributed by the Communists to U.N. delegates in February 1953.
What makes this a truely tragic tale is that Colonel Schwable was considered one of the "fathers of Marine nightfighting." He had trained with the RAF in 1943 and was the Commanding Officer of the first night fighter squadron, the VMF(N)-531 flying PV-1s out of Guadalcanal. At Guadacanal Schwable and his gunner shot down four planes. The kill is split .5 and.5, so in the record books each will show two kills. Remember they were flying PV-1s which had a top turret and crew of three.
In the bookIn Mortal Combat - Korea, 1950-1953by John Toland (pp551-552) it states, "Among the prisoners spending a most miserable Christmas holiday were two Marine officers: Colonel Frank Schwable, chief of staff of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, and Major Roy Bley, ordnance officer of the wing. In July, they had been inadvertently flown over enemy lines on an administrative flight in a Beechcraft and were hit by fighters. Their motor quit and they parachuted to safety." Col. Schwable was captured by North Korea on July 8, 1952.
The book continues, "The Chinese knew they had captured a prize because Schwable, a veteran of sixty-five night missions in World War II and winner of four distinguished Flying Crosses, was in uniform and carried his armed services identification card, a Virginia driver's license, a flight instrument ticket, pictures of his family, and a copy of his flight plan. For months he was kept in solitary confinement in a filthy lean-to under the eaves of a Korean house. The forty-four-year-old Schwable was harried, accused of being a war criminal, fed little, denied proper latrine privileges, refused medical attention, and subjected to extremes of heat and cold. Except for a "two-week thinking period," he was intensely interrogated, although he was never beaten. Finally, at the end of December, after intimidation and dire threats, the senior UN prisoner after General Dean finally submitted a confession that suited the Communists."
"In making my most difficult decision to seek the only way out," Schwable later wrote, "my primary consideration was that I would be of greater value to my country in exposing this hideous means of slanderous propaganda than I would be by sacrificing my life through non-submission or remaining a prisoner of the Chinese Communists for life, a matter over which they left me no doubt."
Major Bley also finally crumbled under the strain of even more intense treatment. Colonel Schwable signed the "confession" on either January 21, 1953 or December 6, 1952; and broadcast his "confession" to the world in February 1953. He was photographed reading the final copy. The book continues, "His confession cleverly combined battle data and technical-sounding terminology that gave it authenticity. ... Together with Bley's confession, it was a masterly coup for the Communists, since the General Assembly of the United Nations was scheduled to reconvene two days later; these two important confessions were then circulated among the delegates."
Steamshovel, a magazine specializing in sensationalism, has a webpage with the coerced confession ofColonel Frank H. Schwable. It states that he was "a US pilot captured by the Koreans during the Korean War who confessed to his role in a bacteriological warfare project that utilized populations of germ-infested flies and mosquitos dropped on the enemy in bombs, replete with miniature parachutes." The site goes on to offer a disclaimer: "The story has another angle, however. It might have been coerced from Schwable under Korean brainwashing torture. Other airman captured during the Korean War claimed that similar "confessions" were forced from them."
In his statement, he alleges that the biological attacks were carried out in secrecy by the Marine VMF(N)-513 from Kunsan (K-8)...but that the 3d BW "B-26s had already begun bacteriological operations." He alleged, "Towards the end of January 1952, Marine night fighters of Squadron 513, operating as single planes on night armed reconnaissance, and carrying bacteriological bombs, shared targets with the B-26s covering the lower half of North Korea with the greatest emphasis on the western portion. Squadron 513 coordinated with the Third Bomb Wing on all these missions, using F7F aircraft (Tiger Cats) because of their twin engine safety. K8 (Kunsan) offered the advantage of take-off directly over the water, in the event of engine failure, and both the safety and security of over-water flights to enemy territory. For security reasons, no information on the types of bacteria being used was given to the First Marine Aircraft Wing."
It goes on to allege that commanders from the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- all the way down the chain -- were verbally ordered to conduct these missions to spread cholera, yellow-fever and typhus -- and unbelievably no one raised their voice in protest. That's why this "confession" is easily discounted. Another reason to doubt this "confession" is that the VMF(N)-513 did not arrive at Kunsan until April 1952 (or later) -- though the bombing was alleged to have started in January 1952 by the VMF(N)-513 from Kunsan. In addition, it should also be noted that the VMF(N)-513s F7Fs were committed at the time to providing night air cover for the B-29 Superfortress starting in July 1952 -- and continued this mission throughout the summer of 1952. It is highly improbable that they could have done these "secret" missions in addition to its night air cover role. And to drop "germ-infested flies and mosquitoes" during the frigid Korean winter months is lunacy.
Other high-ranking POWs also confessed to these "crimes", including Col. Walker "Bud" Mahurin, USAF World War II ace. These individuals found their military careers ended when they returned to the states. As to Schwable, he was not disciplined upon return and he was restored to duty. However, his career was through. Anti-American activists in Korea and other parts of the world have used these types of "confessions" -- along with the Chinese "scientific proof" -- to keep this issue alive today.
Go toGerm Warfarein the 8th Bomb Squadron page for the complete details of the coerced "confessions" by other POWs, false "evidence" -- and finally the admittal by the Soviets that the allegations were based of "misinformation" from North Korea.
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