Oh, gee, golly. I wonder why that would happen?
After the Abu Ghraib shocker, the wave of revulsion that swept across America, generating in the process much sympathy for the Iraqi victims, is reversing itself because of the blood-curdling video depicting the beheading of the young American businessman Nick Berg.
| A little reminder now and then helps keep us on target. Sometimes we forget that we're fighting savages... |
The worldwide circulation of the video via the Internet, television, radio and the print media, has reinforced the line the Bush administration has been plugging in since coming to office about terrorism bearing an Islamic face, and characterised by animal brutality.
| Allahu akbar [holy shit!] Kinda hard to argue with that, isn't it? |
Backed by a massive onslaught on this theme by the popular US media, the image of a Muslim now familiar to most Americans is that of a brutal killer who hates the West as much as he hates Christians and Jews.
| If he doesn't have Christians or Jews to hate, he contents himself with hating Sunnis or Shias, depending on the cut of his turban... |
By putting out the video, the killers of Nick Berg have only ended up doing the greatest possible disservice to Islam and its image in the world, according to Muslims living in the Washington area. On Friday, the Sean Hannity radio show, one of the most widely-heard in America, played the chilling audio from the videotaped beheading of Nick Berg. The 33-second audio clip contained at least nine blood-chilling screams from Berg, heard over continuous chanting from his hooded killers.
| Continuous chanting of "Allahu akbar"... |
His final scream seemed to have ended with a gurgling sound. âI think people need to know what weâre dealing with - itâs evil right before your eyes,â said Mr Hannity of the right-wing Fox News Channel. âThese people want to kill all Americans, not just this poor kid, Nick Berg,â he later said in a newspaper interview.
| That's a little more compelling than Britney's breasts. Unfortunately, Americans have a short attention span... |
He made it clear that he had given his radio audience âample time to tune out with a full and complete disclaimer. I counted down from 10 and said I didnât want to hear any complaints.â Mr Hannity said he wouldnât show the video in full on his TV show, âHannity & Colmesâ on the Fox channel. |