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Terrorism's Horror Flick
By Mike Bayham
June 13, 2002

A northeastern alternative newspaper recently set up a link on their website that connects to the execution video of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. And though almost everyone has at least heard of the gruesome demise of the Jewish-American journalist and father of a new born baby, access to the full video of his murder has been somewhat limited. In spite of the gore and the propaganda messages that were contained in the video, I decided to view it in order to determine what goals the terrorists were trying to achieve through a public execution.

The video starts off with Pearl looking into the camera and relating details of his personal life, home address, and his extensive Jewish lineage. He even states that a street in Israel is named after his great-grandfather, who helped found the town the street is in. While Pearl is speaking, the other half of the screen contains flashes of images from the current strife going on in Israel.

Pearl, who is now speaking with only the side of his face to the camera, states "his" thoughts about the treatment of the al qaeda prisoners currently held at the US military installation in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and states that he is probably in no different a situation than the captured terrorists are in. He also says that his abduction is only one example of the problems Americans are going to be confronted with all over the world due to America's foreign policy.

Another angle of Pearl is then shown with him looking straight into the camera though you can see from his face that he is probably looking at some kind of cue card. In the new segment, Pearl says that Americans will not be able to bear the consequences of the current policy.

Pearl then states a litany of American "injustices" committed by the United States that need to end including America's unconditional support for Israel, the 24 vetoes by the United States against anti-Israeli resolutions presented in the United Nations, the support of authoritarian Arab and Islamic governments, and the American presence in Afghanistan.

After a few seconds of clips showing explosions and a shot of a dead Islamist fighter, Daniel Pearl's dead body is shown with his throat slashed. Then one of the terrorists begins to cut his head off from his body with a knife until he is decapitated.

The last scene is a still shot of Pearl's head being held by his hair while a series of demands are run over the picture. The demands of the so called "National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistan Sovereignty," which are shown in English, include the release of all of the prisoners from Guantanamo Bay with Pakistani prisoners repatriated to their home country and for the evacuation of Pakistan by US military forces.

The last line of the video is a warning that if these demands are not met, the same scene will be repeated again and again.

The video shows that the individuals responsible for Pearl's death are representative of the butchers and murderers that America's men and women are fighting against in Afghanistan. Though they might have a different organizational, political or ethnic name, they are no different from the people that Israeli forces are currently battling in their country.

These terrorists were looking for a target in order to make a name for themselves and in the absence of having the courage and resources to combat a military unit, they decided to go after an unarmed Jewish journalist. It is obvious that Pearl was severely tortured and forced into making the statements he did regarding American international policy. What is also disturbing is that the stating of his home address could be a message for affiliated terrorists already in America to strike at his family.

The obvious goal of the video is to scare Americans into evacuating their presence from the Muslim world, an end that will not be realized through their action.

And though the release of this tragic film will no doubt stiffen the resolve of the United States in pursuing the elimination of major terrorist organizations, I am certain that the murder of Daniel Pearl was not unwelcome news in many quarters of the Muslim world. The United States is not viewed charitably by a large segment of the residents of the Islamic world.

It's not just Jews that are held in contempt by the Islamists, but also Christians as is evident with the recent execution of an American Christian missionary Martin Burnham. Yet where were the condemnations from the Muslim world over Burnham's murder?

Polls show that in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, beneficiaries of America's involvement in Desert Storm, America is not well received. A large part of the problem is that the leadership of these countries actively ferment in their people distrust and disdain of the Western world. Though they tell our leaders and media one thing, they broadcast a very different message to their people.

One can only surmise that the kidnappings and executions of innocent people by Muslim terrorist groups is either quietly condoned or tacitly encouraged by Islamic governments that show blatant anti-Jewish and anti-Christian tendencies. There is no doubt that attacks by militant Islamic groups on Americans domestically and internationally will continue. However the reason for the continuation of such barbaric acts has more to do with the Islamic world's hatred for the West than it has to do with policies formed at Foggy Bottom (the State Department) or at the Pentagon.