DEAR GOD... THE DECAPITATION VIDEO... DO NOT WATCH
What's happened to Iraqi prisoners in the hands of some American soldiers is so beyond shameful and disgusting and inhumane. I'm so sad to be not only an American but also a human. It's a two sided game apparently, with Al Qaida seeking revenge.
I just learned of (a) decapitation(s) that occured and have been STRONGLY advised to not watch the video. My sources tell me that the video is of "Al Qaida making this guy give his personal information into a camera... then thwack. no more head."
You will learn more about this from reading this. Link from Drudge Report.
In case you're masochistic or you're from a news organization and need to watch the video, go here but DO NOT WATCH IT UNLESS YOU HAVE TO. Please listen to me. YOU CAN'T WATCH THE VIDEO unless you must for a very important reason and not just out curiosity.
I know this site is usually about the most retarded stuff in the world and I'm usually being very silly about things, but this time I am begging you to not watch the video UNLESS YOU MUST. I'm not putting this up and saying "don't watch" in hopes that you do actually eat it and taste from the apple of knowledge. I'm putting this up incase you happen to read my blog and also happen to work at some sort of new organization of some sort. If you dont believe me about not watching this...
Some comments people I know have said about it:
"Dear God that was the worst thing I've ever seen in my entire life
I don't even know what to say. I don't care, no liberal can defend this or say shit about it. That is one fucked up culture."
"the video is absolutley horrendous. I absolutley recommend not watching it."
"this cannot be reiterated enough. do not watch that."
"if i had known it would've been that bad i would've heeded the warning label."
27 comments:
unfortunately, it's too late. i saw it linked to on a blog this afternoon and clicked on it immediately.
that was the end of my appetite for the day. so here i am half a dozen PBRs (and no dinner) later. i tried my best to enjoy the found magazine reading/party here in chicago, but it's a little tough to wipe something like that out of your mind.
sarah, not to sound like an anal stickler for the facts....but it wasn't iraqis who did this. it was al qaida who moved into iraq after the war to start trouble. pre-invasion, there was no al qaida there (they were probably shuttling back and forth between iran & the kurdish controlled northern parts of iraq)....now there is. and this is not the end. it'll probably escalate between now and november.
the prison abuse didn't cause this as retaliation. they kidnapped berg on april 9th, and held onto him until now, when his murder would have the most effect.
the saddest part is, he would've been home in PA, safe w/ his family by now, if the US military hadn't detained him in Iraq (for "suspicious activities")..
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/politics/8621773.htm
and the mastermind behind it (al-Zarqawi) could've been taken out in '02...but Bush decided against it since it would've hurt his case against the war in Iraq...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4431601/
and i don't know what image'll stay with me longer. the video of berg's decapitation, or that of his father crumpled on his lawn while his brother cradles him.
Thanks David for pointing out my error. Fixed!
I normally really enjoy your blog, Sarah, and I can completely respect your opinions on the decapitation and prison abuse. But I'm a little confused as to the point of posting a link to the video. Wouldn't most news organizations who absolutely need to see this know where to watch it? I guess I just find it a little confusing to post something as extreme (and arguably traumatic) as that and tell people not to watch it. I think you overestimate people's ability to resist temptation.
But it's your blog. I don't have any beef with you; that's just my opinion. Carry on.
that makes me feel sick and i still haven't seen it.
I think America needs to see it. Just as America needs to see the images of their soldier's body bags. America obscures, photoshops, performs surgery on the ugly to make it pretty, to make it watchable, to make it pleasing to the eye and senses. But America needs to see reality. I mean, really get a glimpse; because many Americans are living in a bubble. The video is abhorrent, but isn't the war? America has been too sheltered. That video is the reality. Stop hiding America.
I've seen it. It made me cry. It makes me cry every time I think about it. Where will all this end?
--Adi's Mom
Re: America needing to see it
Sure, America should wisen up to the realities of this war, but first of all let's figure out what reality is. Reality isn't that soldiers are going over there getting decapitated en masse--otherwise when it happens there wouldn't be quite the media uproar. I'm not an expert on what goes on in Iraq, but to take either incident (decapitation or prison abuse) and use it to definitively represent the entire war is a bit of a skewed perspective.
Frankly my heart goes out to this guy's family. They obviously didn't want the video to be made public, and who would want their son/brother to be made into a sideshow on the internet?
it's fucking tragic, but good people see this. while we're so busy watching slideshows of prison abuse it's good to be reminded of who our real enemies are. and understand the difference between a flawed democracy which will investigate, to whatever level, the cause of prison abuse, to a cold and sadistic ideology who cheer death and view anything that doesn't agree with their brutal, narrow worldview as worthless.
this isn't no revenge. this is islamist, not islamic, culture. they didn't need an excuse to murder danial pearl - except that he was jewish - the same as all the others they've murdered.
perhaps the detention wasn't helpful, but don't remove the blame from exactly where it belongs. the cold, brutal fuckin murderers and the culture that cheers this.
You are so irresponsible it's unbelievable.
It's so f-in horrible.
This will cheer everyone up: http://www.redcoat.net/pics/tubgirl.jpg
I'm not sure how i was irresponsible. I posted a very clear and percise warning AGAINST watching the video. Just because media is censored, doesn't mean that I should be as well. Things concearn me and others outside of music, and if someone finds out about this via this blog, then I feel like i've done my duty as a human being.
It's not like you are breaking the news of this event - a matter of fact, you are ENABLING people to see this horrendous video. If someone TRULY wanted to see it, the could find it without a lackey from Spin Magazine pointing it out. Additionally, what you are doing (linking to the video) is exactly what those scumbag terrorists want you to do - you enable them to create fear amongst Americans for an isolated, digusting act. Even with your ludicrous warnings, people are going to watch it.
Whoever said: " I don't care, no liberal can defend this or say shit about it. That is one fucked up culture" deserves to be slapped for sheer stupidity. The liberals didn't want the war in the first place, genius. What happened to this man is no worse than what the Brave American Heroes™ are doing in that prison where Saddam's henchmen tortured Iraqis. They're murdering and torturing Iraqis, too and the video is surfacing, thank goodness.
Think before you speak, fuckhead.
Whoever said: " I don't care, no liberal can defend this or say shit about it. That is one fucked up culture" deserves to be slapped for sheer stupidity. The liberals didn't want the war in the first place, genius. What happened to this man is no worse than what the Brave American Heroes™ are doing in that prison where Saddam's henchmen tortured Iraqis. They're murdering and torturing Iraqis, too and the video is surfacing, thank goodness.
Think before you speak, fuckhead.
sarah--
the post was rhetorical in itself. while humans are naturally curious, they're twisted, too. you posting the link only completes a circle of humanness and i praise you for it.
interesting that the same creatures can create stuff like music AND that stuff like that video...
youre taking the piss. if anybody wanted to watch this they would have seen it by now. its not some shock revelation. "dear god....the decapitation video" its really not that bad compared to most stuff they do. not that bad at all. and those cunts do it to animals for halal every day, as would the daft jew that they carved up. they are all silly bastards who just keep egging each other on. theyre all asking for it really.
Its right to post this. you then have the option to watch it or not. There is the warning not to watch, but you have the choice.
The 12:32 post, or whoever said that this is doing what the terrorists want, I severly doubt that anyone ahs not heard of this and anyone seeing it will feel a lot of things, but I doubt that they will feel more fear. We already know what people who want to shcok and horrify us are capable of. Do you not want a free media? Would you prefer it if everything was controlled and censored? I imagine THAT is what some of these terrorists want.
I myself have not watched this video, but I am glad I have the option to.
Disagree? email me: keythefool (atsign) btinternet (dot) com
*Only anon because I don't want to register*
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com
Here's an interesting blog that three Iraqi brothers post in. I'm really sick of censored news. Although this is only three men's opinions, they are doctors/dentists and well educated men and it seems relatively unbiased.
re: David's comment "the saddest part is, he would've been home in PA, safe w/ his family by now, if the US military hadn't detained him in Iraq (for "suspicious activities").."
I disagree, I think if we hadn't gone to war with Iraq under false pretenses in the first place, he would never have gone there in the first place.
-Trevz
I don't have a blog, so the only option was to post this anynomously.
In a time when we are censored in ways we cannot imagine, I appreciate that I have the option of viewing this video. I can understand why we are not showing it on our news stations and why the photos are not being run in the newspaper. There are great risks when making something like this generally available to the public. The impact such horrifying violence has on people and the potential repurcussions for the Berg family.
While I do understand the logic behind keeping this out of the public's eye, I also appreciate a free media. With the advent of the internet, we are increasingly able to access materials that otherwise would have been kept from us and read opinions outside of hegemony. Thank you for posting the link. Thank you also for warning me that this is graphic and potentially deeply upsetting.
It is no surprise to me that such atrocities are going on. It seems to me that Americans have a very sterile view of war. Our war is on CNN at night and consists of bright green lights and blasts as bombs are dropped. We haven't seen the horror of the Iraqui people, nor of our own soldiers as they die what must be a horrible death. There is nothing redeeming about war, and nothing sanitary or distant about it either. We are being sheltered from the reality of people dying. Vietnam is a distant memory to most of us. It would seem to me convenient that a government that involved us with a war while the country was so divided, is also censoring what photos we are allowed to see and shaping our reality of this war. Allowing graphic photos of what has happened to Iraqui citizens and American soldiers would almost certainly create outrage against the Iraq engagement.
As we struggle to make sense of the insanity that surrounds us, it is important to remember that not ALL Iraquis are heartless, disgusting criminals like the ones responsible for Berg's death just as we claim that not all Americans are like those responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib.
Let us all hope for peace.
-Meg
P.S. I tried every html tag known to man and no luck formatting. Sorry bout that.
Couple of things:
It's one thing to say "OMG DON'T WATCH THE VIDEO!" and another thing entirely to say "OMG DON'T WATCH THE VIDEO!" and post a link to it. That's like saying "Here, kitty kitty kitty" to the fucking bottom-feeders that read your pathetic waste of bandwidth.
What kind of a fucking retard are you? Stick to music, William Hung, "The Bachelor," the New York bar scene, and whatever other regurgitated crap you usually "write" about, because you don't know shit about politics, and you know even less about human nature.
Also, to the pathetic jackhole who wrote "no liberal can defend this or say shit about it. That is one fucked up culture" -- show me one "liberal" that's defending decapitation. You need to turn off your mommy's computer, get your flabby white ass out of the basement, and see the goddamn world once in a while.
BTW, the fact that right-wing asshats are rationalizing the crap that went on in Abu Ghraib is PROOF that the TERRORISTS HAVE WON. They have succeeded in making Americans measure their ethics compared to a lower standard. Heck, who knows, maybe the freaks that post this garbage thought torture and humiliation was okay to begin with. I feel sorry for you degenerates. I really do.
this message is to the person who posted just above -- are you retarded? Did you even read my posting? it's all explained there.
Sarah--
I don't think you should've posted the link but not for reasons of censorship or what people think about the war. I think you shouldn't have done it because it's been hell on his family. Sure, I don't agree with his father one bit about who's responsible for any of this but the guy's in mourning so I don't hold it against him.
Posting it on the Internet is wrong to his family who, I'm sure, may have seen it the horrible way their son was killed. It's the same way no one ever thinks about what effect the Zapruder film had on the Kennedy family that was forced to watch it on TV every time a special about JFK was aired (though I hope it makes Ted hate life 'cause that sanctimonious bastard killed a woman himself and got away with it).
The bottom line is that people should have some respect for the Bergs and limit the distribution of the video.
--Lawrence, your brother
As an employee of a news organization I'm so happy you linked this. I was too stupid to find it myself.
I saw the video, it was disturbing even though it appeared to me that the victim was already dead at the time of the beheading it was still graphic, deeply disturbing, and brutally real. I was overwhelmed with a profound sense of evil...
Yet seeing some of those posts here though I'm reminded of a larger tragedy:
This country is bitterly divided right wing and left wing and it's sad, a tremendous shame. This video should remind us that our real enemies are not members of an opposing political party and any claims to this effect by either side is propaganda that can serve to divide us more.
My post will probably be ignored or discredited by most here, but still wish to implore everyone to stop fueling the hate between political parties.
Remember that most (if not all) of us here believe in democracy and in basic freedoms that all people should be entitled to such as "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Islamic Jihad (holy war) is not new- it has existed for hundreds of years. Realize the historical and present fact that it is the mission of Radical Islamists, practicing Islamic Jihad to "convert or kill" all "infidels" (anyone that does not practice their particular version of Islam- about 6 billion people).
They call on all Muslims (thankfully most don't listen) to wage continuous war against ALL Jews, Christians, and Americans. Against you, against me- no matter what political party we each support or what our disagreements.
Unfortunately, we cannot negotiate with these people or convince them to drop their beliefs and their weapons.
I wish there were another solution... but the historical evidence shows that their isn't and that the only real defense America and all freedom-loving countries have against members of Jihad is to return war- all-out war and killing of all who see it as part of their religious duty to deliberately bomb, decapitate, and terrorize people such as you and I. Most pragmatic people realize this.
It's tragically simple: you and I, all of us here are enemies of Islamic Jihadists and hence they are our enemies as well.
We, whether on the right or the left, conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat treasure the same basic human rights and have far too much in common to wage any sort of war on each other, and yes, we have the same common TRUE ENEMIES.
Thanks for reading this rather long-winded post and I hope you'll consider these things.
- Matt
Post a Comment