Humanity sliced!
It has been the most horrifying night of my 24-year-old life. Never before have I felt so heated and chafed.
Last night, I was shown the eight-minute video clip of American contractor Eugene Armstrong being beheaded by the Al Qaeda-linked group of Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in September 2004. Armstrong was kidnapped in Iraq alongwith two others - American Jack Hensley and Briton Kenneth Biggley.
I stayed up all night, crying, in pain, in anger, wondering if I should make this clip visible to everyone. A scene such as this can only have a negative effect, can only leave scars behind, can only separate a human from a human. Just like I feel separated right now. I have (almost) lost my faith.
My mind refuses to see anything but flashbacks of that scene. My heart screams out in pain begging for me to leave everything and just go away. From everybody, from everything. I am in pain, like I have never been before.
"Oh, you Christian dog Bush, stop your arrogance … the mujahideen will give America a taste of the degradation you have inflicted on the Iraqi people," one of the five men, dressed in black from head to toe, their faces covered with black masks, reads out in his language from a paper in his hand.
Armstrong is in front of them, dressed in an orange over-all, kneeled on the floor, his back toward the five men, hands tied behind his back.
It is unsure he even knows what awaits him next, for the US was still promising that they would rescue him, and negotiations were on till he last knew.
You can hear Armstorng muttering prayers, as he restlessly tries to move his body... maybe in the sheer fear of what in the world is happening. You just can't imagine what must be going through his mind.
The man in the centre then pulls his mask down a little - as if he's getting ready for the kill - takes out his knife, and all five of them jerk towards armstrong. Two go toward his legs, while three go headwards. They lay him down, sideways (all of this happens really fast), two of them hold his head, two grab his legs, and the fifth one starts to slice his neck from the front.
Like you cut watermelon, he slices his neck. SLICE. In a vigorous to and fro movement slicing through his skin, his bone, his windpipes...
He's screaming out in agony, in unimaginable pain. Absolutely unimaginable.
The blood's oozing out. Falling on one of the men's socks, spurting out everywhere, on the knifer's hand, on the ground, on his own face... flowing like a running tap. The slicing continues/
You don't even realise when Armstrong's screaming stops, till the men lift his head up off his body and leave it facing the camera on top of his back.
One of the men then lifts the head up and shows it away.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...
What was his fault? He was just a a regular human being working in Iraq, who had a wife, a kid, memories of them playing in their yard, memories of sharing a few jokes with his pals, memories of his first college romance, of his first date, of the night of the prom.
What was his fault?
That he was American? And Iraq doesn't like America?
These images will stay with me for the rest of my life. They will haunt me till the day I die. I know it. I don't even know if I'll ever be able to smile again.
Please, for heaven's sake, understand that the images are extremely graphic and probably the most violently disgusting and enraging you would have ever seen. If you don't think you can watch it, don't even think of clicking on the link.
If I were you, I would leave that link alone. I promise you. And I'd never return to it ever again.
But see it if it can burn a crazy angered fire within you to stand up and try to stop all this. In some way. In any way. It has to start somewhere. And this has to stop.
Even if it means that I have to burn in that fire. Even if it means... the end of my breath.
Hensley was beheaded the same way the following day, and they threatened to kill Bigley unless the US met their demands to free all women prisoners in Iraqi jails.
"You, sister, rejoice. God's soldiers are coming to get you out of your chains and restore your purity by returning you to your mother and father.
"The fate of the first infidel was cutting off the head before your eyes and ears. You have a 24-hour opportunity. Abide by our demand in full and release all the Muslim women, otherwise the head of the other will follow this one."
They were not Muslims. They were inhumane killers, who knew nothing about Islam.
posted by Once the Conman at 5:56 AM
16 Comments:
oh god.
I didn’t see this video. I don’t want to. Almost three years back a colleague f/wd a video to me. That was another journalist being beheaded by Al-Qaeda jihadis. This colleague f/wd it thinking I will not have courage to see it n will be too shocked. I saw it. It was not about courage...I saw it coz I wanted to see can someone human be inhuman enough to behead another human? But they did it. I saw it n I was in so much pain. It was unbelievable. I hoped it is not true, but it was. This post of urs only proves it further that for the so called Al-Qaeda jihadis it is not a big task to behead a human. They do it almost everyday. I hate these jihadis.
M.
Dear Christ.
it's all wrong..everything is wrong!!
I dont think I have the courage to view this clip.. especially after Conman's descripton of it. I think I've had the same gut-wrenching feeling emerge from the centre of my stomach when I first saw the Abu Gharib pictures.
yeah he was Daniel Pearl.
M.
I have spent so much time and engery as an American who has lived in this region for five years defending Islam and Muslims and although I will not stop, it tests every inch of tolerance and faith in my body to continuing doing so. Please, please, please for the love of God, more Muslims MUST speak out against these atrocities in the name of all that is holy. This victim was a close friend of a friend of mine. He loved the Middle East and did not have a political bone in his body. He was just an average guy who in reality was one of the more enlightened Americans who chose to leave the US and understand other cultures...not impose his Americanism or his religion. WHY do they kill people like this?????
I will never watch the clip, images like those.. by your description alone is all I need to tell me that I can't do that to myself. Don't know how to comfort you except to say that deep down man is a brutal beast really, forget religion, forget the politics, we are barbaric.. Just let it go, you're far too young to be tormenting yourself in this way,you can't change the world. I feel your pain and pray you have enough strength to recover from this.Remember there is only one JUDGE to which we are all answerable..
The last anon comment was from me, in my shock I forgot to add my name..
(courage and prayers )
yeah someone forwarded me the clip a while back and i watched it out of curiosity ... i couldnt sleep for 7 days as i stay alone and images of Armstrong and his excruciating pain kept flashing in front of my eyes ... I just hope and pray this will stop and never happen again ...
What do I tell you all about the way I feel? I am not the same anymore.
My life, it seems, might have changed forever. The agonizing screams still echo in my ears...
My beautiful smile has sailed into the sea, leaving me on the shore, dreaming... of the other side.
oh.
I can't watch it, it would leaving haunting memories in my head that i wouldnt be able to get out. It truly breaks my heart.
Its sad because we go on about our lives here and don't stop to think of the horrors that occur, over there, over here.
It truly breaks my heart the evil in the world today :(
Take care con man
Dianna
I had tears in my eyes from reading your description of the clip. I don't think I can watch it just yet.
It's barbaric the way national and religious hatred is ultimately aimed at innocent individuals. Only to spawn more hatred.
I do hope the other side is completely different.
GSB: Take my word for it. Do not watch the clip. You're lucky it didn't download on your comp.
Young Buddha: I ain't the kind to get used to a certain way of life. By nature I am such, what I don't like, I either leave or change.
In this case, change is the only option. For, I wish to return even after my death.
Something's gotta change. And Someone's gotta do it.
i don't have the courage to watch it...here's a big hug ()
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