Complicity in Silence

Did anyone see this today... terrible news ... i wish this wouldnt of happened

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/11/iraq.main/index.html

So we tell you that the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls. You will not receive anything from us but coffins after coffins, slaughtered in this way.``

The video was discovered as a U.S. Senate committee heard testimony on the U.S. military investigation into abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. (Full story)

At the beginning of the tape, the victim describes himself as Nicholas Berg from Pennsylvania.

``My name is Nic Berg. My father`s name is Michael. My mother`s name is Suzanne. I have a brother and a sister -- David and Sarah,`` says the man.

``I live in West Chester, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.``

He is then shown sitting in front of five hooded men. After the statement is read by one of the men, the victim is pushed to the floor and, amid his screams, his throat is cut. Finally, one of the captors holds up the man`s severed head.

I agree. Wither the Ummah.
Cheerios

shabash syed ali. This essay is very well written. Its been a while that chowk has published a work of such excellnce.

Two wrongs dont make a right. cnn says a US citizen has just been beheaded in iraq claiming this is revenge - which is exactly what your article clearly points to. It may be just hot air on your part, but the mindset is the same. All of US is up in arms against what happened in abu gharaib - if we pakistanis had the same moral standard, we would not have allowed the rapes and murders of civilians in bangladesh by the army go unpunished. So spare me your irresponsible and hypocritical grievances about abu gharaib.

It is not the ``lack of training`` of the guards or the ``pressure cooker of Iraq`` that is responsible for these atrocities. It is the raw hate that is being pumped into the hearts and minds of average american by the media and the right wing government that is responsible. American army`s actions are simply examples of what many americans would like to do to Muslims.

Just listen to any radio talk shows, Fox TV, and other right wing publications which have blanketed the entire country over the last decade and you will know what hate is like. Callers to radio talk shows openly talk about ``evil muzlems``.

President Bush asked soon after september 11th - ``why do they hate us``. The answer is quite simple, ``they`` hate us because we hate them. OUr treatment to their prisoners is ample proof of that. We did not go there to liberate them. We went there to make them compliant to our wishes.

Syed Ali - Well written!

Indeed, I am amazed to see the lengths to which the american media as gone in ``explaining`` and rationlizing the humiliation and torture committed by american forces. First, we are told, contrary to all evidence, that these were the actions of a ``few soldiers`` out of 140,000 soldiers. Well, so were the actions of 19 hijackers out of 1.2 billion muslims. Now we are being told that things like this happen in the pressure cooker that Iraq is. In other words, its not the barbaric and hate of soldiers, but the circumstances they are in that is responsible.

tahmed32 - Indeed 2 wrongs do not make a right.

A wrong was done on September 11th by the killings of 3000 innocent people. A wrong was done by the killings of 15,000 iraqi civilians who had absolutely nothing to do with Septemeber 11th. Another wrong has been done by sodomizing the prisoners. Another wrong has been done by incarcerations, jailings and cold killings of thousands of innocent people around the globe, sometimes with the complicity of whores like Field Marshal Musharraf. A wrong was done when 7 poor economic migrantsPakistanis were lured by the interior ministry into Macedonia and killed under the guise of fighting terrorism to win favors with US.

Which ``two wrongs`` were you talking about?

malik #7 so do you consider this beheading to be justified?

Man - yankess screwed up big time in Iraq. I think by end of this year they are going to cut and run and the freeking mullahs will have a field day there.

The Vatican newspaper L`Osservatore Romano took aim at the now infamous photo of a soldier holding a prisoner by a leash. In an editorial Monday, the newspaper said the soldier`s goal was to dehumanize the prisoner, but that the image achieved the opposite effect.

``On the contrary, it is the torturer who with her leash stifles within herself any residue of humanity,`` it said.

Gish. Really makes one wonder what the price of oil, in blood, sweat and dollars, will be soon.

tahmed32 # 8 - You asked ``so do you consider this beheading to be justified? ``

NO. Absolutely not. It is a travesty and a horrible act. Having said this, lets look at the CONTEXT of this brutal killing. Why was this person in Iraq? Was he there at the invitation of Iraqi people or was he there at the behest of occupation army? Let me further elaborate with an example:

Lets say that I gather up an army of a couple of dozen people and send them into your house to liberate your children of the yoke of your tyranny. Understandably, your children do not want this `liberation` and fight back. My army causes a lot of destruction and abuse in your home during this `liberation`. In the mean time, your children get hold of one of my men, take him inside a bathroom and cut his balls.

In all sincerity, would you then acknowledge my protests regarding this brutality? Or would your first question be ``why you were you in my house in the first place?``

There in lies the answer. And THAT is the context of this brutal and horrible killing.

#6 by malik99
#5 by tahmed32

There are plenty of people in the US that are opposed to what is going on Iraq. There plenty of people in the Islamic world-whatever that means- that did not approve of, and still condemn the 9/11.
Perpetrators on both side are the rightwing zealots. Some zealot from that side and other zealot from this side and we have a human disaster unfolding in Iraq. The problem is that both right-wingers are accusing each other for the atrocities and continue to justify what they are doing because the other party is doing that too.

This is not a new pattern and both parties will continue to escalate the cycle of violence until many more thousands have died. This issue will eventually be decided by the level headed people who are currently being pushed down by the extremists on both side.

If the extremist from the Arab or Muslims world were ready to take brutal actions to further their political agenda, the extremists in the US want to do the same. This blame game and revenge can last forever and would continue to take the lives and that is the most gruesome part of this war that clearly does not have any reasonable goals on both sides.
Nobody can determine as to who would blink first.

Syed Ali or many like him will write volumes of emotional diatribes from this side and there are plenty of Syed Alis on the other side that will do the same thing.

Arabs claim that the US is behind all their problems. The people in the US believe that Arabs have killed and attacked innocent American on 9/11. Since Iraqis are Arabs too, American feel that their govt and the army is justified in taking the gloves off in Iraq. People of Iraq and other sane elements can continue to shout that Iraq had nothing to do with 911, but they can not shake the blame off from Arabs.

The US govt. has come forward to apologize to Iraqi people about what happened in Abu Ghraib, some countries from the the Islamic world at this time should come forward and apologize for the atrocities of some of their citizen on 911. No Islamic leader or country has so far come forward to apologize to the people of the US.

Are the western values so strong that the President apologizes for gross acts and the Muslims values so weak that Muslims don’t even think about apologizing for what happened on 911? Condemnation is not an apology.

May be it is time.

Tahmed32 #8,

You really don`t expect an honest response to that, do you ? Brace yourself
for the ``no I don`t, BUT.....`` stream of consciousness from the usual suspects.

malik #12 You start by saying ``NO. Absolutely not. It is a travesty and a horrible act.`` and you then negate ths by saying ``Having said this, lets look at the CONTEXT of this brutal killing.`` and the rest of your post provides an ``explanation`` for this murder.

Murder is murder - no ifs and buts. The only times killing is justified is when it is done in pure self-defense as recognized by criminal courts the world over. That young man, far from being a threat, was in fact a prisoner of those hoodlums standing behind him. His only crime was that he carried the same passport as you do. It is appalling that you are incapable of telling right from wrong even in this case of a cruel and vicious murder.

malik #12 You start by saying ``NO. Absolutely not. It is a travesty and a horrible act.`` and you then negate ths by saying ``Having said this, lets look at the CONTEXT of this brutal killing.`` and the rest of your post provides an ``explanation`` for this murder.

Murder is murder - no ifs and buts. The only times killing is justified is when it is done in pure self-defense as recognized by criminal courts the world over. That young man, far from being a threat, was in fact a prisoner of those hoodlums standing behind him. His only crime was that he carried the same passport as you do. It is appalling that you are incapable of telling right from wrong even in this case of a cruel and vicious murder.