More torrid pictures/videos, this time showing a US citizen being beheaded by Arab militants. And we have to wait for more photos and videos from Iraq – this is getting very bad.
This is shocking stuff, carried out apparently in revenge for the treatment of Iraqi prisoners.
Some curious remarks by the White House:
“It shows the true nature of the enemies of freedom,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
“They have no regard for the lives of innocent men, women and children. We will pursue those who are responsible and bring them to justice.”
“The lives of innocent men”. Hm. That does not have quite the same ring to it following the death of dozens of Iraqi prisoners, who were never tried or found guilty of anything. Who are the enemies of freedom?
My sincere sympathies go to the family of Nick Berg in Philly, a city I visited once.
It’s always “them/us” thing…
It’s almost ingrained.
I mean, I feel it too, I admit it. I feel horror at both, but I must admit to feeling *more* horror at the beheading of the West Chester man… I live only 2 hours north of Philly, maybe that has something to do with it.
My uncle is in Iraq in the us military, maybe that has something to do with it.
And I’ve been looking for a job… And my uncle, more or less not serious, e-mailed me saying there are well-paying jobs if I want to work in Iraq… And just out of curiosity I checked the krbjobs.com site (Halliburton) just last week… And maybe that has something to do with it.
Or maybe I’ve just allowed myself to be a little more brainwashed into thinking Iraqi people are not really people – they’re the enemy.
The people who beheaded that guy viewed Americans as the enemy – not real people – surely or they could not have carried that out.
Just as American military MUST be kind of desensitized and at least a little brainwashed into objectifying “the enemy”, in order to carry out their duty…
Sick scary world. Flawed flawed people.
The Stanford Prison Experiment
The Vietnam War
There are no monsters, there’s just people in situations gone insane.
“America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.”
Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900)
And perhaps back again?