Wednesday, June 2, 2004

American cruelty killed Americans Pearl, Berg

After relooking at a map of the Middle East, I noticed that Iran was nowhere near America. There are no Kurds (in large, substantial numbers of course) on our borders and I am just assuming that the sarin gas used by Saddam against the Kurds and Iranians could not possibly cross both a continent and an ocean.

After reviewing newspapers, etc., I also found that Saddam had never made a threat of sarin gas against the United States or her allies, just against his own people.

And though Saddam suffered from the same complex as Napoleon and Hitler, he lacked one key element: the desire to control the world.

Yes, he was a dangerous man, but only to those in his immediate vicinity. He was evil, not stupid.

We want to fear sarin, then we need to fear it from al Qaeda and American terrorist operatives. Furthermore, it’s amazing: Hundreds of people read The Citizen and the only person who chooses to reply to my letter is the one who fails to get sarcasm.

Mr. Jansen, I recommend you reread my letter (after viewing a few “Seinfeld” episodes to get the gist of sarcasm). In mentioning bin Laden, I was underhandedly “funning” those people who think there can be a single solution to this chimera we call the War on Terror.

Those people who can only see the glory in war, those people who see it as an opportunity for revenge (which is why I wrote: “[y]ou want revenge for those killed on 9/11, start by capturing bin Laden”). I was simply outlining a more factual and linear plan than the haphazard one people now support.

We’ve gotten our Pearls, 9/11s and Bergs all jumbled up into one lump of hatred when they are really three separate bitter lumps.

Furthering this little “lump theory” is Mr. Jansen’s combining of the murders of Daniel Pearl and Nicholas Berg.

Pearl, if you remember, was killed in Pakistan’s Sindh Province (a viable hotbed) by extremists now believed to have been al Qaeda operatives (operatives, neither Iraqi nor “insurgents”). But his kidnappers were not simply al Qaeda; they were also fighting for restored Pakistani sovereignty.

Interesting, though, Pearl was actually the tenth reporter killed (as of the time of his death) while researching the chimerical “war on terror.” How come, Mr. Jansen, you admonish me (falsely) for forgetting Pearl while you yourself have forgotten the nine other reporters (in truth, many more since then) and innumerable contractors currently trapped in Iraq like Berg was?

I will admit, though, there are similarities between the two murders albeit ones you will not appreciate. Pearl was killed not just out of the fight for Pakistani sovereignty, as I mentioned above, but also because his captors were using him to demand better treatment of Guantanamo Bay prisoners. American cruelty killed Pearl.

Berg was killed when the Abu Ghraib photos surfaced. American cruelty killed Berg.

As a closing note, as I write this the television in the background is on CNN and before I stumbled on The Citizen site I was thoroughly combing through CNN.com. I, without a doubt, am insulted by Mr. Jansen’s high-horsed criticism and accusations. I am sorry for what he as gone through, but that provides him no excuse.

Dixie Eska-Thedra
Fayetteville, Ga.

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