• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Self-flagellation

May 15, 2004 7:11 am By Robert Spencer

story.daniel.pearl.jpeg
Pearl

“Because of the twisted, sado-sexual nature of the photographs taken at Abu Ghraib, the prison abuse story is deemed to be more “newsworthy” than a long litany of jihadist atrocities. The silence of the sheiks, mullahs and imams isn’t worthy of newsprint.” From Oliver North, with thanks to EPG:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans are so good at self-flagellation, even a heinous act by others may be insufficient to remind us that we’re not so bad after all. For three weeks now, the media has bludgeoned the Bush administration, the secretary of defense and the U.S. military for the mistreatment of detainees in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison.

Now we have the horrific, videotaped murder of American civilian, 26-year-old Nick Berg. The perpetrators of this ghastly act proudly shout “Allahu Akbar,” over the screams of the young man as they hack through the sinews of his neck and then proudly display his severed head for the camera.

The tape concludes with a prepared statement by one of the executioners claiming that “the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls.”

As shocking as this video is — and it is truly revolting in a way that churns your gut — it is nothing new. Radical Islamic jihadists have been perpetrating this kind of horror against Americans for more than 20 years. And, as if to substantiate the Jihadist’s claims that it’s not their fault, the “blame America first” crowd in the U.S. media looks for ways to point out how we really deserve what we’re getting. Equally consistent, the Arab press parrots ours in ways that incite more violence, while “leaders” in Islamic states remain mute — or worse, condone — the atrocities.

On March 16, 1984, CIA Station Chief William Buckley was abducted and then tortured to death in a Beirut dungeon. I carried the agonizing photographs and tape recordings of his brutal beatings back to CIA Director William J. Casey. No Islamic leaders condemned the kidnapping and murder. The U.S. media rationalized his treatment as the consequence of being a CIA employee.

On May 28, 1985, David Jacobsen, the administrator of the American University Hospital in Beirut, where most of the people treated were Muslims, was taken hostage on his way to work. No Islamic leaders denounced the perpetrators. After Jacobsen’s release in November 1986, his 18 months of torture were ignored by a U.S. media more intent on castigating the Reagan administration for an “arms for hostages deal” than in punishing his captors. The same situation applied for all the other Beirut hostages.

On Feb. 17, 1988, Marine Col. William Higgins was kidnapped and subsequently murdered in Lebanon. Though the United Nations filed a complaint that one of its observers had been “taken,” Islamic leaders were again unheard. When Higgins’ remains were finally recovered in 1991, the silence of the U.S. media was deafening.

By Feb. 21, 2002, when Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was butchered in Pakistan, the jihadists had moved to a new level. Photographs and audiotapes were deemed inadequate to depict the horror they intended to show us — and their adherents. Daniel Pearl’s murderers held him for a week — while they plotted his brutal murder — in front of a video camera. And while Islamic leaders were once again mute, this time the U.S. media responded to the horror. Danny Pearl was, after all, one of their own. The European press seized on this aspect of the atrocity and decried the heinous act as “an attack on freedom of the press.” That Daniel Pearl was a Jewish American was hardly mentioned.

On March 31 this year, just prior to my third trip to Iraq, four American civilians, escorting a shipment of humanitarian food and medicine, were ambushed, shot, mutilated and dragged through the streets of Fallujah, before their bodies were burned and hung from a bridge over the Euphrates.

When I arrived in the city days later, I was informed that the perpetrators had taken pains to notify members of the Arab press prior to the grisly event. The U.S. media pointed out that the security contractors should have known better than to drive through a city where the United States was so highly resented. No Islamic leader rose to condemn the atrocity.

Days later, on April 15, jihadists in Iraq released the videotaped murder of Fabrizio Quattrocchi, a 36-year-old Italian. Though the press praised the courage of the young security guard facing certain death by proclaiming, “Now I’m going to show you how an Italian dies,” members of the Euro-media immediately called for the withdrawal of “foreign troops from Iraq” and the resignation of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. It was a one- or two-day story in the U.S. media. From Ramadi, Iraq, I looked in vain for any Islamic leader who would rise to denounce the assassins or condemn the killing.

I was in Fallujah when the story broke about the abuses at Abu Ghraib. The soldiers and Marines I was with agreed that while the actions described were inexcusable, this was “old news” because it was about activity that had occurred months before. Since only a small handful of people were involved, we all naively assumed that this would be a one- or two-day story. The events, and those engaged in them, had all been investigated. Those responsible had been — or were in the process of — being punished or prosecuted. There was no cover-up. The military had already begun to rectify the command and organizational deficiencies that led to the abuses.

We were wrong. We sadly underestimated the effect of such a story in a political year.

Because of the twisted, sado-sexual nature of the photographs taken at Abu Ghraib, the prison abuse story is deemed to be more “newsworthy” than a long litany of jihadist atrocities. The silence of the sheiks, mullahs and imams isn’t worthy of newsprint. No broadcast minutes will be wasted on commentaries complaining about the lack of opprobrium from “moderate” Islamic leaders. The vivid horror of Nick Berg’s bloody severed head is insufficient to usurp the “prison abuse” story from the headlines.

The U.S. media smell blood — not of murdered Americans — but of Donald Rumsfeld. Never underestimate our penchant for self-flagellation.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: moral equivalence, United States


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • Hoi Polloi on EU Parliament members call for firing of border agency director for preventing illegal migrants from entering Europe
  • jacksonl03 on India: Police make first arrest for ‘love jihad’ under new law
  • Yogi on Canadian Mental Health Association studies Muslim women’s mental health due to ‘discrimination’ and ‘hate crimes’
  • Walter Sieruk on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship
  • J. Morgan on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.