Mr. Barnes points out in the post below how the Bush Administration’s policies for conduct during this “War on Terror” have seriously hurt the reputation of the United States of America.
He gave many examples of our bad behavior, but he left out one: The figurative beheading of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Since when did the United States of America begin displaying huge framed photographs of its slain enemies? Isn’t the purpose of a frame to put boundaries on the subject and separate it from its immediate surroundings? In this case, doesn’t the frame effectively remove Zarqawi’s head from his dead body? Why not just mount his head and send it back to Bush to display in the oval office? It would go great with his beloved rug that he chose because it’s so “optimistic.”
The last time I recall our government releasing photos of slain enemies was after Saddam’s sons, Uday and Qusay, were killed in a firefight. Prior to that, I can’t think of any examples.
I think the Bush Administration policy goes something like this: Don’t show American dead soldiers! Don’t even show their flag-draped coffins! Enemies? Photograph their dead bodies and display them to the world!
It seems to me that if the Administration were really trying to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, they’d do their best to follow their customs for treatment of the dead. The right thing to do would have been to not publish photos of Zarqawi’s lifeless head, regardless of what a ruthless killer he was, and turn his body over to the new Iraqi government for burial.
I’m not sure, but I think there may be some international laws banning governments from displaying photographs of enemies killed in battle. (Anybody out there know for sure?)
Meanwhile, this is what our “allies” in this war have been up to:
Saudi Arabia beheaded a man for murder Monday, the kingdom’s second execution this year, the Interior Ministry said.
Musfir bin Saad bin Abdullah al Qahtani was found guilty of shooting and killing two Saudi men after a dispute, the ministry said. He was executed in the capital, Riyadh.
Saudi beheadings are carried out with a sword in public to serve as a deterrent. The kingdom beheaded 83 people in 2005 and 35 people in 2004.
But they have oil, so we excuse their gruesome method of execution as just one of their idiosyncrasies.
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