http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Saudi-Kidnapped-American.html?hp
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It is important to get terminology straight if you want to talk about something. We are not fighting people that are insane, that is people that lack rationality. We also fighting people that know that a portion of the West will lose resolve every time that they do something like this. There people are not mad; they are evil and they are barbarians.
Now, do you think that we will see as the video of this event as we have seen pictures of the prison abuse? Or do you think we will see the video of this event as often as we have seen the video of people jumping out of the towers on September 11?
I do not loosely use the term “madness” here to describe the mental status of those who may have performed this deed…
It is, however, my humble opinion that the situation in which all involved parties (U.S., Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc., etc.) find themselves is one of sheer and utter madness…
…a self-perpetuating, self-destructive course that has no rational solution or end…
Yeah, “our torture” of prisoners was really bad after all…
The thing that is truly sad about it is that they are using the American media very successfully to help further their cause, and the media are only too happy to oblige.
With all due respect to the freedom of the press and truthful reporting of the news, the glee with which the media reports these incidents is appalling. The goal of terrorism is to spread fear as widely as possible in order to get one’s enemy to concede to one’s demands. The media’s current behavior helps them accomplish this goal.
We are all mad, but live on different funny farms. 
-Robert
Agree totally with the media comment.
Did anyone see the report about Iran having a public meeting where they openly are recruiting suicide bombers? Several journalist reported on the event, some were reporting from Iran. Reports are they signed up as many as 10,000 people to be suicide bombers. They pay their families. Oh, and Iran continue to develop their nuclear facilities and even the international body that watches these things agrees they are not doing it for domestic power reasons.
If you read NY Times, watch ABC, CBS, NBC, for example, you have most likely never heard of this story. This might be one the administration doesn’t want to make a big deal about. It’s sort of scary. Does this mean Iran is next?
Unfortunately, this is a war and retreating from it will solve nothing. The world has changed forever. Actually, it has been moving in this direction for some time now. The part that is different, is America is finally standing up to fight it openly.
I’m not sure I understand the comments about the media - do you all want to see more or less from the media of this guy being beheaded in order for it to be fair? CTL indicated that we wouldn’t see as much of this as we did of the prison photos and that was bad. But others are saying the media won’t be fair b/c it will give this story too much liberal coverage. Sounds like a Catch-22 to me.
BTW, you can see the head pics on Drudge now if you’re interested.
How many here are aware that beheading is a relatively common form of punishment in Saudia Arabia? This will not bother them as a society nearly as much as these two incidents bother us with respect to the method of killing. My wife personally witnessed such public punishment several times as a younger girl living in Saudi Arabia. Do not expect outrage from the Muslim or Saudi communities for that reason. This is common and dismissed, much like our own death penalty goes on relatively unnoticed in this country. The only statements we will hear will regard highly politicized statements from the Saudi government.
I have to agree that the media isn’t really the problem…
The “American Media” is really just a big, dumb, plodding machine…it does not “think” for itself…it simply gives us the viewing/listening/clicking public what we want and pay for…
My life’s completeness is not contingent upon me seeing someone beheaded. I’ll pass.
-Robert
Well, I did see the Olympic Torch pass by yesterday while in the middle of my evening swim set - that was pretty cool, even my 8yr old son was impressed. Wish you all could have seen that.
I’ll take a shot at answering, though I may well be wrong.
The media will show the hell out of the beheading for a short period of time, and then it will go away, just as the Nick Berg video has. Meanwhile, the prison abuse issue goes on and on, and rarely does a day go by that I don’t see Lyndie’s smiling face somewhere, desptie the fact that as far as we know, no one was killed or seriously injured during those very stupid events. There seems to be plenty of ongoing coverage of how horrible we (Americans) are, but little coverage of what we are fighting against.
As far as the catch-22 goes, in my opinion it is perfectly appropriate for the media to report on these things, and completely inappropriate for them to post the videos or show footage from them. This is, of course, simply my opinion, based on my belief that it is inappropriate to show that kind of violence on the news. I think it is unfair to the victims as well as the viewers, who may actually not want to see it.
(Lest you think me hypocritical, I realize, as do most people, that artificial violence on TV and in movies, while realistic looking, does not result in the death of a real person, and to my mind, that is the fundamental, and critical, difference between viewing a violent action movie and seeing a real person’s head being cut off.)
Anyway, I hope I haven’t opened a big can of worms on a Friday afternoon. Have a super weekend. Good luck to those who are racing.
“I have to agree that the media isn’t really the problem… The ‘American Media’ is really just a big, dumb, plodding machine…it does not “think” for itself…it simply gives us the viewing/listening/clicking public what we want and pay for…”
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- Bear in mind that nearly 95% of the media heads and anchors are registered Democrats. Anything that will cast an unflattering light on the current (Republican) administration will get aired to death and blown out of proportion. Meanwhile, the deliberate and calcullated murder of innocent civilians by Islamists is ignored and Islam is depicted as a religion of peace.
The media airs what pays, which is not likely to be what we “want.”
“It is, however, my humble opinion that the situation in which all involved parties (U.S., Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc., etc.) find themselves is one of sheer and utter madness…”
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- Just keep thinking that, and it will not change. It will only change when enough Americans (and Europeans/Spanish) recognize that only one side in this conflict is “mad.”
To attempt to draw a moral equivalency is to demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of the events and parties involved.
“I’m not sure I understand the comments about the media - do you all want to see more or less from the media of this guy being beheaded in order for it to be fair? CTL indicated that we wouldn’t see as much of this as we did of the prison photos and that was bad.”
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- We pimp slapped a few terrorists during interrogation (let’s try to remember that the prisoners at Abu Ghraib were incarcerated AFTER the cessation of hostilities, which makes them terrorists and not soldiers, thereby exempt from Geneva Conventions protection) and made them get naked. That’s called “attrocities” and “torture” by the likes of the sodden Senator from MA. Meanwhile, Americans are killed, burned, dismembered, hung up on display, and beheaded on video, and the media says WE are the bad guys. Do you get my drift?
“But others are saying the media won’t be fair b/c it will give this story too much liberal coverage. Sounds like a Catch-22 to me.”
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- If they do cover it, they’ll say this is in response to Abu Ghraib or some such crap.
I’m with you CE!!
And I think the 9/11 attacks should be shown by the media more often.
MWB
I’m not sure I get your drift only because I haven’t seen any media report in either the “liberal” media (NYTimes, etc.) or the “conservative” media (Fox News, etc.) that has said WE are the bad guys in this Williams incident, or in the Berg incident. I’ve heard a hypocritical, fat, divorced, drug-abusing dude scream on my car radio that this is the case, but I haven’t read it written, or heard it spoken, anywhere. Do you have any direct sources that say WE are the bad guys in the Berg or Williams incidents?
BTW, don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t give 2 shits about those Iraqi prisoners, or how they were treated. After 6 years of active duty, and 5 in the reserves, I certainly sympathize with those soldiers stuck over in Iraq w/o a clear mission. After hearing about some of the weird, sadistic/erotic shit that some of my divers and crew pulled when we passed through the PI on our way to and back from GW1, its not hard for me to imagine these soldiers goofing on those prisoners in the manner displayed in the photos. The ugly truth is the military is full of people that wouldn’t think twice about doing that stuff, but the silver lining is that those are the type of people we want protecting us, not a bunch of panty-waist rich kids who are too scared to serve (but would rather go into politics or conservative talk radio and pose as badasses).
The media doesn’t report everything, only the really bad stuff, cause it sells. I want the full story, not just the stuff the underminds what we are doing. As the oringal poster said, our media plays right into the hands of the terrorists - and they know it and they use it.
What doesn’t “the media” report? Do you suspect that there is some successfull social/economic/democratic reform sweeping Iraq that we’re just simply not hearing about b/c “the media” won’t report it? If that’s the case, don’t you think Fox could get over there and give us lot’s of feel good stories about life in Iraq?