Beheading in Iraq
 

Something occurred to me shortly after the beheading story came out, and maybe it says something about the state of my own cynicism, but...if I were in a position of authority within the military or the C.I.A. in Iraq, and I wanted to distract the attention of the world (and especially, of the American public) from the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal and refocus it on the cruelty of "the enemy"...do you see where I'm going with this?

Before you accuse me of reading too many spy novels or watching too many episodes of 'The X-Files', consider that there are undoubtedly individuals - not to mention 'cells' - within various agencies of our government to whom the sacrifice of a single civilian for "the greater good" would not be an unreasonable scenario.

I've been advised by somebody in a position to know that the voice of the supposed Joradanian Al Quaida leader on the tape is speaking Arabic with a distinctly Iraqi accent. What do you suppose it would cost these days to hire five Iraqi men to put on masks and cut off someone's head?

Anything is possible. And yes, some members of the CIA are capable of such a thing. I'm not saying that's what happened here, but it is possible.

You don't hear about it, but I'm certain (without any proof) that there are tons of CIA agents in Iraq right now, posing as civilian contractors and various other jobs. It's what they do.

That you've thought of the possiblity shows a much wider understanding of the issue than most could comprehend. It does seem a bit convenient... I wonder which is the lasting image of the past few days: faceless foreigners in allegedly set-up and 'exception to the rule' photos or a graphic documentation of the murder of an innocent American with a pronounceable name, a family and a social conscience?

Re: Beheading in Iraq
 

To what end? All that risk and effort for something that, quite frankly, will be completely forgotten in a few months. At least from the perspective of those you think may want to 'distract' - this is already over except for some dirty little court-martials. Why would they then do something so risky?

The 'powers that be' have all but decided this will be trivialized. Watergate, in the exact same time frame to the elections, was even more trivialized. The 'powers that be' looked at Watergate in this same time frame as all but completely forgotten - a non event. Look at how most newspapers reported Watergate. On the back pages where things such as exploding Pinto trials and failing Firestone tires (1970 tires; not 1990 tires) appeared.

Watergate was the rare exception. It was nothing - completely ignored - until McChord suddenly realized he was being totally sacrificed. Only just after the inagueration of Nixon for a second term did Watergate even get any press after the initial hype.

That is what we have now. Unless some specific connections are made to higher levels, then the Iraq torture issue is gone. No reason to murder someone - and therefore risk a power broker's entire carrer - over something so trivial as this Iraq prison abuse scandel. Short of some connection directly to top management or a complete exposure of same in Guantanamo ordered by the president, then this event will only thrill the hype seekers (us) for a while longer. It is already over as far as the power brokers are concerned. That is unless something happens - and some less power brokers may just play a trump card. Absolutely nothing to be gained by taking such great risks - to have someone murdered. The prison abuse hearings, according to the 'powers that be' have already been trivialized as to be irrelevant.

I dunno.

This seems to me to be a bad move on the part of the Iraqis.
Even though this small group of crazies doesn't represent the whole of Iraq, it does more to underline the abuses at Abu-Graib prison and show that although you may get humiliated by the Americans, the former operators would have done much worse to you.

Me, I'd rather be tortured by the Americans. I can wear panties on my head and get over it. But having a drill used on me, or other major damage that I may or may not survive, that's a little harder.

And we don't behead anyone. Especially in public for the evening news. We don't get into "revenge" killings either. Even though military retaliation sure looks like it sometimes.

What is it with Arabs in general and their need for revenge?

Brian

Not to disagree but the worst pictures it seems haven't yet leaked and the report includes sodomy, beatings etc, I think people keep grasping to this 'panties on head' thing because it makes them feel better. Of course americans would never engage in real torture.

Damn difficult to tell the difference, sometimes.

If they don't have a whole army to do it with, then an individual level is the only way to go.

Look at some of the arguments on this thread. It's not just Arabs.

Salon has an interesting article today about digital images and the net as weapons...that the iconic images of this war may not come from pro journalists digging, but for the first time, amateurs with digi cameras, internet access and cell phones. We've talked earlier about the use of cell phone images and crime. This is a further twist. Maybe our general visual horror threashold will just rise.

Re: Re: Beheading in Iraq
 

Far from being over, as you suggest, I think this story - the prisoner abuse scandal - has barely begun to be told. This is not a case of the media simply flogging a dead horse for the sake of sensationalism (not to suggest that they wouldn't, if necessary), but rather a situation where the full extent of the blame, not to mention the vast majority of the evidence, has yet to be scrutinized and evaluated.

As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, those who dismiss the whole thing by talking about women's underwear, and other relatively non-serious (or at least non-lethal) incidents, are really doing so with an agenda to trivialize. Early reports suggest that as many as a dozen Iraqi prisoners may have been beaten to death, and that U.S. forces within the prison were complicit in the rape of boys by Iraqi prison guards.

Before the beheading tape was released, the prisoner abuse situation was the lead story on every news broadcast, the main topic on every talk radio program, and - I'm sure - the biggest blip on every radar screen in Washington...and it certainly was not going to be going away any time soon.

Forget it. Bush and Rumsfeld should send a letter of thanks to Al Queda, because the Berg beheading has pushed prisoner abuse right off the radar screen. Despite, or even because of, AQ's claim that the beheading was due to that abuse.

I'm somewhat heartened by the negative reaction to Sen. Inhofe's remarks yesterday. I am disturbed, however, that a senator would say it in the first place.

Re: Beheading in Iraq
 

Dayummm, I didn't even think of that! Shiii...I wouldn't put anything past the US Gubmit...;)

The cover of this morning's Philadelphia Daily News

To be fair, we really know nothing about their parents' marital status at the time of their births. Especially with the masks.