I finally did view the videotape on the excution of Daniel Pearl. The Drudge Report had a link to it yesterday, so I found it.
It contained a fair amount of criticism of US policy in Pakistan and warned us to get out of Pakistan or else more Americans would end up like him.
They showed him speaking ina matter-of-fact and relaxed tone about his Jewish roots and some second thoughts re the war on terror. Then there was a photo of his dead body and, finally, someone’s hand holding his severed head and moving it up and down, so you could see it was not attached to a body.
The effect was pretty repellent - especially the emphasis on his Jewishness.
The tape gave new meaning to the term “terrorist.” These people really want to terrify us. But I agree with George Bush that they are nothing more than cold-blooded killers, even though they may have some grievances against us.
I’m glad to read berdollos’ account of the video but I, for one, have no intention of ever viewing that horrific murder and I agree that a political cause was merely a convenience for their decadent souls. If anything, they’ve made me more resolute.
I have seen the video. It does not depict the actual murder. It shows Pearl talking, then a fade-out, then his now-shirtless body on the floor and a man cutting off his head, followed by the display of the severed head. Interesting amateur matting on the video, but that’s beside the point.
These guys are murderers. Their own religion, which their ilk has claimed as a prime motivator of their actions, specifically forbids the killing of non-combatants. They have violated the laws of men and of God. If there is a hell, that is where they deserve to be.
It’s interesting to note that not long ago, no one would have seen this video because the news stations decided not to release it.
Now, because of the internet, we all can access it easily.
Soon, the vast majority of people living in industrialized countries will have immediate access to this type of information, as better technology becomes available and more widespread.
If you have something that everyone wants to see and you release it onto the net (as these Pakastani terrorists did) then it will be out there for all to see and no one (government, news agency, corporation, or religion) can stop it from being seen.