Abu Ghraib was horrible and criminal. But as this report demonstrates, Nick Berg's beheading, and the beheadings of Daniel Perle and Paul Johnson, were not about revenge for Abu Ghraib. No, these terrorists are all about bloody, humiliating, horrific murder. They are demon-inspired. They deserve death.
Sunday, the Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape purportedly from militants linked to al-Qaida showing the South Korean man, Kim Sun-il, begging for his life and pleading with his government to withdraw its troops from Iraq. . . .
Kim, described as a devout Christian who is the youngest of eight brothers and sisters, studied Arabic as well as English in South Korea. On the tape, he is heard screaming in English: “Korean soldiers, please get out of here. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I know that your life is important, but my life is important.”
Kim’s tearful mother, Shin Young-ja, told YTN: “The government should do whatever it can to save my son’s life. Time is running out.”
Given that Perle and Berg were Jewish and that Johnson was Christian, as is Kim. Is this really about Iraq and politics? Or is it actually a religious war of Islamists against Jews and Christians?
Kim Sun-il needs the prayers of all Christians.
This website notes some connections between Muslim belief and practice and the current Islamist barbarities:
Decapitation of victims appears to be becoming a grisly method of choice for Islamist killers.
In the video clip, the men holding the hostage identified as Kim were quoted as saying in Arabic: "We demand you withdraw your forces from our lands and not send more of your forces to this land. Otherwise, we will send to you the head of this Korean and, Allah willing, we will follow it with the heads of your other soldiers."
Apart from the recent murders of Johnson and Berg, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl died the same way at the hands of extremists in Pakistan in 2002.
In the Philippines, the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group has beheaded dozens of hostages and other victims in recent years.
They include Catholic priests, teachers, nuns, farmers, peasants -- and American national Guillermo Sobero, a tourist from California murdered by the ASG days after he was kidnapped together with two U.S. missionaries and 19 Filipinos in May 2001.
Islamic scholars record that the founder of Islam, Mohammed, ordered that a leader of the Jews of Khaibar, Kinana, be tortured to reveal where buried treasure was hidden. According to historical writings, Kinana was tortured to the point of death, and then beheaded.
The Islamic holy book, the Koran, appears to justify the decapitation of infidels.
"When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them (sura 8.12, Shakir translation).Posted by Clifton at June 21, 2004 02:54 PM | TrackBack