Several times today, I considered posting about the heinous murder of Paul Johnson, Jr. But what could I add to that which must have been mentioned thousands of times?
That this was a killing brutal beyond words? Said.
That the people who perpetrate such acts do so outside the values of any major religion or morality? Said.
That only those who have lost all their humanity could kill an innocent man not involved in battle, a man who had committed not the slightest bad act against the killers? Said.
Just as when Nick Berg had been captured, tortured and slain, decent people around the planet denounced this most recent massacre. Just as when Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter with a young wife and a baby on the way was slaughtered, the world cried and people shook their heads.
We hear all this and we see all this. Still, there is something that we do not see.
We do not see the actual killing, the act of savages, as Drudge puts it.
We are told, over and over, that we cannot see the actual images, because they are too horrific. "Not fit for public consumption," say the news reports, whether in print or on television. Our imaginations run, but our eyes do not see.
Of course, we can see the photos of American soldiers abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib. We can see our people frightening prisoners with dogs, stripping and humiliating men, forcing people in custody to have sex against their will. These awful acts not only can be shown, they are paraded, day after day, in the most respected newspapers and news shows that capitalism can produce.
And these photos should be shown.
Though we describe in great detail what has occurred, the saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words" is correct. Thousands of words cannot convey the injustice that a single, ugly frame can.
But the photographs of evil perpetrated by our citizens are not the only photographs that should be shown.
We should see the photographs of Daniel Pearl, both when he had life and when it was sliced from his body.
We should see the work of monsters, when they removed Nick Berg's head and held it like a hunting trophy.
This most recent beheading should not be hidden. Like the others before Paul Johnson, we should see this father, this son, first as he sits in capitvity, terrified - then when his corpse lies lifeless, his head dumped bloodily upon his back.
After the Holocaust, photographs of inhumanity, multiplied a million-fold, were shown to the world. "If only we had known," people said. Then they would have done .... what?
People should not only be told now, they should be shown. Don't show us, day after day, photographs of abuse committed by a few of our troops - and then fail to show why we have a need for troops at all.
Perhaps if we are shown what "cannot be shown," too many of us will still take inaction. Perhaps too many of us will still drink the Kool-Aid of Farenheit 9/11 and the screeds that its admirers embrace.
But, then again, perhaps not. Perhaps enough of us will be moved to action, to say, "Enough. Action must be taken."
Action must be taken. Do not look if you do not wish, because the pictures are horrific, and they can turn your stomach, and they will cause nightmares. If, however, you want to see beyond words what was done to Paul Johnson today, then visit Drudge. The man who calls these people what they are - savages - has the courage to post what too few of us are willing to see.
I also saw this on Drudge. When I initially saw the Abu Gharib pictures I was repulsed and then angered that these moronic individuals were dumb enough to document what they did. Then after the Nick Berg, Paul Johnson and now Kim Sun-il, perspective comes into the picture.
I don't condone by any means what those American soldiers did, however, what you see in the Abu Gharib pictures is essentially fraternity house hazing yet, it is called 'torture' at the same time, our citizens are having their heads sawed off.
I wish Ted Kennedy would watch the Nick Berg video and then have the bollocks to talk about torture.
Posted by: Steve Michaels | Wednesday, June 23, 2004 at 08:21 PM