I will not provide a link for it. You can surely find it quickly and efficiently through just about any internet search engine. I watched (most of) the video of Saddam's torture of Iraqi prisoners (there were parts I could not take).
I wanted to see it, not for any prurient reasons--God knows I prefer my violence packaged slickly and in the context of Bruckheimer glitz, fool that I am--but because I am becoming sick to death of all the rhetoric surrounding terrorism and Iraq. We, as U. S. citizens and news consumers, have been relentlessly bombared on almost every newscast (including tonight's NBC Evening News with Tom Brockaw) with the Abu Ghraib photos. Not once has there been shown anything other than the most sanitized of the beheading videos--essentially Berg, Johnson, Perle, and Kim (who, I am praying, will be miraculous rescued from death) speaking to the news audience. No pixellated gore. No photos of the late Paul Johnson with his decapitated head on his back. No photos of an al-Qaeda member holding Nick Berg's severed head up to the camera. No video feed of Daniel Perle's head being severed from his body. And none of the scenes I just witnessed of the former Iraqi dictator's regime slicing of fingers and hands, beating a man in the back, and breaking a man's arms in front of his troops.
And what would happen if they did show these things? There would be outrage for offending the delicate sensibilities of we coddled Americans. Critics would rage that news programs had gone too far. The emotional energy would be directed at investigating why certain news directors allowed certain bits of footage to be aired. News anchors, producers, bureau chiefs would find themselves defending their jobs simply because we didn't like the raw brutality of the evil that the civilized world faces.
More shame on us.
This viewing is not suitable for children. I think children should be protected from these sorts of images. But voting adult U. S. citizens need to see them. We need to be reminded of the exact nature of the evil that we face. This is not simply a debate over governmental policy where we hope our favored candidate can score some sound bytes that will propel them forward in the polls. This is about innocent, non-combatant civilians getting brutally murdered. You may not like the U. S. involvement in Iraq, but you cannot condone or justify what is being done to these civilians. And any reply that smacks of "Well, it's the consequences of a failed administration policy on terrorism" as though one can simply shrug one's shoulders and blame Bush, or the Democrats, or whatever nice and convenient theory you want to uphold--well, a reply like that needs to be forced to see these various videos, again and again, until finally the reality hits home.
This is not about Kerry versus Bush. This is not about Democrats recapturing, or Republicans maintaining, control of the federal government. This is not about lower taxes, or a decrease in military spending. This is not about preemptive strikes versus multilateral U. N. consensus.
No. It's really quite simple. Innocent people are being evilly, brutally, and mercilessly tortured and killed. This evil must be faced and stopped.
Enough of the handwringing analysis. Enough of this trying to uncover the economic, social and political causes. By the time we accomplish it all, we will find only a dozen more videos of more tortures and beheadings of Christians and Jews. And innocent blood will be on our hands because we did not act. We did not pray. We wasted time in partisan wrangling.
God help us. We have lost any understanding of sin and evil.
Posted by Clifton at June 21, 2004 08:10 PM | TrackBackI was unfortunate enough to have seen the Berg beheading and it was without a doubt the most horrific thing I have ever witnessed and I cannot fathom the hate that would afford someone the ability to SLOWLY cut another man's head off.
And while I agree that we MUST stand against this sort of evil, I remain unconvinced that a "war" against terror is going to be the way to do it. I have also seen the shattered remains of children being carried out of "collaterally damaged" homes near terrorist targets and even if we turn away from that horror or try to justify it we certainly must ask how many NEW terrorists are we creating in dropping such bombs?
Can it ever end via the escalation of violence? When there is no official to surrender to us and end the fighting? Saddam is gone and presently Iraq is ours, but the fighting has not ended and I don't think it ever will until we leave - which will be when?
I just don't know what to do Clifton, I am worried WAY more about safety now than I ever was before Iraq was conquered.
The only way I know how to stand against the evil in this world (personally) is to pray and to confront it in my own heart and make war with it there. But dropping bombs? I'm just not sure that that will not simply add fuel to the fire and bring more and more people inline with the thinking of the terrorists.
James OTN:
I admit a certain Midwestern, Kansas farmer pragmatism when it comes to war: sometimes it's the only way to effectively confront particular evils. I have always been suspicious of pacifist arguments that seem to be locked in ideas (and ideology) and fail to take account of the realities with which one is faced.
But I do not claim that such reflexive presuppositions are based on any solid Scriptural reading nor a synthesis of the Fathers. I suppose I am as ambivalent about war as is the history of the Orthodox Church: both requiring heroic penances and forbidding Christians to be soldiers at some points, praying for the army and for victory over enemies in the liturgy, etc.
And I am absolutely clueless as to the best approach on the "war on terror." I have no adequate theodicy to repond to the reality of innocent deaths of children and non-combatants in war--even unintentional.
All I know is that Kim Sun-il is in a dangerous plight. He is a Christian brother. And so I pray for him.
Posted by: Clifton D. Healy at June 22, 2004 10:04 AMInnocent blood is already on many people's hands, including our own. Saddam has killed thousands of innocent civilians. Terrorists have killed thousands of innocent citizens. US soldiers have killed thousands of innocent civilians.
After reading the teachings of Jesus, I don't understand how a war like this can be justified. We're all neighbors. We're all brothers.
"But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."
As each day passes by, I agree with you. We have lost any understanding of sin and evil.