The media has attached themselves to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal with an unholy glee. In its way, that's as should be. As the liberators of Iraq, we have a responsibility to hold ourselves to the highest, purest ideals of comportment.
Lynndie England and her ilk are a disgrace to their uniforms, the Service, and this nation. I'm all for hanging them out to dry. I don't care that she's pregnant -- in my book, it's just further proof of the dereliction of her duties. Brigadier General Karpinski is just as culpable. Court martial her for her lack of discipline and leadership in Abu Ghraib.
I've blogged before about the damage these soldiers have done to the cause of liberty in the Middle East.
Which brings me to poor Nick Berg.
I've been silent until now on the issue, feeling that other bloggers have covered it well. I haven't watched the video. My imagination fills it all in: the ominous air of his captors, the knife, the pain and screaming and blood, spreading in a pool. In my mind's eye, I can clearly see his head, displayed, and imagine the orgiastic ecstasy of his murderers.
I don't need to watch the video, because I know what we're up against, and I weep for Nick and his parents the way I wept on 9/11. The cold, calculating rage I felt then is refueled. Oh no, my rage is not hot. It is cold and still within me. I know it will never burn itself out. Thanks to this anger, I will neither forget nor forgive.
This, with so much incontrovertible evidence that there are, among my own countrymen, people who hate this country and its duly elected President more than they love freedom and the lives of their brethren, galvanizes me.
The fact is that the media, as evidenced in my last post, would rather focus on events that can damage the Presidency. They want to dishearten the American people. They don't care about the barbarian hordes howling on our doorstep. They refuse to absorb and propagate the real message behind 9/11, suicide bombings, stonings, honor killings, and the murders of Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg.
They would rather indulge their unreasoning hatred of one effective man -- George W. Bush -- than work to bolster the spirit of the American people and tell the truth about how much we have achieved since September, 2001. They wage a psychological war of propaganda, blinded by hatred and political agendas.
They hold up Abu Ghraib, and marginalize the murder of Nick Berg.
Likewise, we have celebrities, like has-been Chryssie Hynd, actively rooting for the enemy's victory!
This is unforgivable. It shows a disconnect from reality so profound that it cannot be tolerated.
Confrontation is called for. As servicemen and women fight and bleed on enemy soil, so should we fight the forces of betrayal and prejudice in our own midst. Our internal enemies are beyond reason. It is time to redouble efforts to refute their lies, bolster those who have been studying the flow of current events with fairness, and open the eyes of those who can be saved.
Blogging is a powerful tool to achieve this end, yet more could be done. Write to the editors of the local newspapers, call the local news stations, demand the publication of balanced op-eds from both sides of the coin. Write to and call all the major news outlets, demanding truth-based reporting pulled only from raw data. Demand that journalists refrain from the use of scare quotes and emotional language. Boycott entertainment featuring performers whose agenda is anti-American.
If nothing else, continue pounding family and friends with links to articles and sites presenting the unvarnished reality: for 1300 years, radical Islam has sought to force us all into submission. It espouses murder, rape, and slavery. It believes that it is the One True Faith, and unlike other faiths, has never abandoned the edict to make converts at swordpoint. Nick Berg's is not a sad, isolated story that will sit as a footnote in history. Nick Berg, Goddess embrace him, is representative of what the followers of the moon god's Cult of Death would do to us all.
Remember that. Spread it around. Let no one forget Nick Berg.
posted by Linda on May 14, 2004 11:06 PMwell-said, Linda.
Posted by: chris at May 15, 2004 07:34 PM