http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/CalgarySun/News/2004/05/13/457411.htmlGrisly truth
It's the U.S. and not the Arabs who are addressing abuses
By LICIA CORBELLA, EDITOR
Managing editor Jose Rodriguez warned me Monday, "Don't watch it. You won't be able to get it out of your head." City editor Dave Naylor said: "You don't want to watch it."
So, on Monday, I didn't. I stayed away from the video of the beheading of Nick Berg by Islamist monsters who videotaped and then distributed their murderous act around the world using the Internet.
But yesterday, I decided I wanted to write about Berg's execution and decided to watch it. It is beyond horrific. As already reported, Berg is sitting on the ground with his arms shackled behind his back and his ankles bound as well. The video starts with Berg's only words: "My name is Nick Berg. My father's name is Michael. My mother's name is Suzanne," he says. "I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah. I live in Philadelphia."
Five men, all in masks and wearing black are standing behind Berg. One reads in Arabic from sheets of paper.
There is excitement and hatred in his voice. The only words I could make out were "Allah" , "Muslim", "Islam" and "Israel". While I have not seen a transcript of what is said -- the mention of the word Israel likely means that -- as usual -- these hatemongers blame the Jews for everything: Their misery, oppression, pea-sized hearts, ignorant minds, mosquitos....
Then, one man removed a knife, about six to eight inches long, pushed Berg to the ground and started to saw away at his neck while the four other men screamed "Allah is great." Berg, of course, just screamed until he was silenced. Eventually, his killer held Berg's severed head up by his hair.
I cried bitter tears for Nick Berg yesterday. He's a 26-year-old American Jew who was in Iraq to help put up telecommunications towers. He had travelled widely, helping others.
People keep saying the defining images of this war in Iraq will be those grotesque photos of Iraqi prisoners being abused at the hands of their American jailers, who are supposed to be their liberators. That is likely true. After all, Berg's killing is too graphic to be a defining image and that's too bad.
While those pictures of American abuse against Iraqi prisoners are disturbing, this video sure puts them into perspective. So, too, does the response to the beheading -- or rather the lack of response to it -- from the Muslim world. As usual, the silence is deafening. Most Arab newspapers made no mention of it at all. Those that did played it down, or justified it.
Ironically, only Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group, condemned it as a "horrible act that has done very great harm to Islam and Muslims," the Shiite Muslim group said.
The statement is almost funny when you consider the atrocities committed by Hezbollah over the years. Perhaps they were unaware at the time the statement was drafted that Berg was Jewish. Surely such knowledge will set them dancing in the streets.
But the virtual silence in the Arab world about the barbaric beheading of Berg indicates the vast difference between oppressive states and America.
Within days of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners being brought to the attention of U.S. superiors, army officials interviewed the abused Iraqi prisoners and wrote reports.
Within days of the photos running in the media, a Senate committee was established and is running. Charges have been laid, trials will be held, recommendations will be made and policies will be changed.
Arab and Muslim leaders, for the most part, just ignore or justify their atrocities, including the shameful way they treat their own citizens and their women.
More importantly, though, what does this tell us of Canada? Where do we fit in?
When our soldiers committed atrocities and took photos of them in Somalia, Jean Chretien shut down the inquiry and disbanded the implicated airborne regiment. Yesterday, the Liberals on the Commons public accounts committee used their majority to suspend public hearings into the sponsorship scandal.
Kind of makes you wonder if our democracy is closer to the Americans or the Arabs, doesn't it?
