I salute your bravery in showing this picture.

The question every American should now ask of themselves is: "If I were behind the trigger of a .50 caliber machine gun and had these animals in my sights could I mow them down without a second thought?"

Imagine this interpretation (from Andrew Sullivan):

BBC WATCH: "His killers shouted "Allah is great" before holding what appeared to be a head up to the camera." What appeared to be his head? Who do they think Zarqawi is: Penn or Teller?

We take pictures of naked, hooded prisoners and terrorists "appear" to cut off someone's head, who would have thought that the prior story would get more play.

i don't believe there was ever any doubt as to who the enemies are. showing the picture reinforces that knowledge. we never had illusions that our enemies were rational or just, we know them not be so.

comparisons to the prison photos are misplaced, however. we now know that some of our soliders are acting in a manner inconsistent with our mission and objectives. we should not stoop so low as to compare our conduct with that of the enemy. we should be better.

I saw the video. I don't agree the picture should have been front page. But I think the video should have been shown on the networks, with prior warnings, after 'prime time'.

I don't really think I'd want young kids seeing it.

Kathy K,

Did you want young kids to see the pictures from the prison?

The war in Afghanistan and al Qaeda was about "defending our civilization against the depraved barbarians...." I was all for it.

The war in Iraq was, in the minds of most of the congressmen who voted for it, about weapons of mass destruction, regime change, nation building, and the idea that we could install a democracy by force. Bin Laden had called for the overthrow of the secular government of Hussein and prophesied that the US would invade an oil rich country full of muslims and take it over, and the US did bin Laden's bidding. The results were not only predictable, but were accurately predicted, and the war in Iraq has fomented rather than suppressed terrorism and violence against the Americans.

Simon

Check out the State Department reports on terror acts. We have experienced a World-wide decline in acts of terror since 9/11 because we are fighting back and taking the battle to the source of terror.

"The results were not only predictable, but were accurately predicted"

That cliche is true for any event in the history of mankind. Someone running their mouth overtime is always predicting stuff, and sometimes they're right. Somehow you forgot to identify the predicter and the basis for the prediction.

And the assertion about "the idea that we could install a democracy by force" is as valid as any Telegraph Avenue soapbox politics, but bears no relation to the rolling up of the strongest of the Arab states to deprive those depraved barbarians of oil-financed support. Have you noticed that some of the local Iraqi governments are succeeding?

Assignment: for your next polemic, do an accurate quote of a real person, and engage that with a real counter-argument. Go on, Simon, try. Education is a wonderful thing, and you're not necessarily immune to it.

Then reexamine 'fomented instead of suppressed terrorism', and explain why world terrorism in general has declined since the US took action against it following 9/11.

*They cut the head off of a living person.*

How can anyone defend this?

Doesn't anyone remember that Saddam was a brutal dictator?

One that unleashed the horrors of chemical warfare on his own countrymen;
a dictator that bathed in the lap of oil-rich luxury while his serfs lived in mud huts; a tyrrant who would rather destroy a woman than have hear learn to read;
a hate-monger whose first book was called "Persians Jews and Flies: Three Things Allah Shouldn't Have Made."

He was a despot who led his country to believing that driving car bombs into hotels gives you virgins with Allah, that every war is a holy jihiad, and that sawing a live man's head off IS PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE.

It could take a generation to undo the warped world Saddam left behind, democracy won't come quickly. But it must come-- the status quo was simply no longer an option.

marek, what's your point? I think reading Kathy K's comment answers your rhetorical question. I know, I know, we were all supposed to see the symmetry of an isolated prison misconduct event as equal to Berg's and Danny Pearl's beheadings. Your lame point, no less.

Viewing the misconduct of a few prison guards in an isolated event and the worldwide barbaric behavior of Islamofascists are both not fit for kiddie viewing. One caveat though, only the Islamofascists have and do intend to kill the kids.

Marek, or for that matter, would we want children viewing the hard-core pornographic images that the Boston Globe published the other day, claiming that they were of U.S. soldiers raping an Iraqi woman (they were actually from a porn movie)?

Oh, wait, too late to ask that question, since the bozos already did it.

I Think the UNITED STATES is doing just what it's suposed to do. Were we to sit back and forget about what hapend on 9/11? What you see hapening is just the way GOD expresses order
after all GOD is "EVOLUTION" for thoes who prosper and when others try to DESTROY what GOD created then the judgement begins. Thoes who try to be GOD shall PERISH.
Why do some feel that we should not make a big deal out of the PAUL JOHNSON's beheading and to leave his death in peace and forget about it? I'm sorry but that is not the thing to do, if I was killed in this situation I wouldn't want to be forgoten about. It's just like that one dejenerate lady a few years back publicly saying that we are making a big deal obout the SELINA QUINTANIA's murder and that we should just let her soul rest in peace and to stop greaving for her lost, Well some people are just to stupid to realize how special these people are and we are not just going to bury and forget about PAUL JOHNSON he represents AMERICA.

i want to express the reality about that people who did so,
1:they people don't know what is islam.
2:you must not imegine the islam untill you know about the real islaam in short whenever a person become peaceless then he is NOT muslim.
thts all......................becouse the islaam teach us the peace of all world not only of muslims.
"for more information learn "QURAAN"

salut ca va

Islam is a sickening religion. Im getting tired of my country being taken over by them. All i ever learn in my Re lessons is how wonderful they are. I dont agree.

Islam is a sickening religion. Im getting tired of my country being taken over by them. All i ever learn in my Re lessons is how wonderful they are. I dont agree.

Islam is a sickening religion. Im getting tired of my country being taken over by them. All i ever learn in my Re lessons is how wonderful they are. I dont agree.

Islam is a sickening religion. Im getting tired of my country being taken over by them. All i ever learn in my Re lessons is how wonderful they are. I dont agree.

Islam is a sickening religion. Im getting tired of my country being taken over by them. All i ever learn in my Re lessons is how wonderful they are. I dont agree.

Islam is a sickening religion. Im getting tired of my country being taken over by them. All i ever learn in my Re lessons is how wonderful they are. I dont agree.

sorry that posted so many times. If this an american website well done I though it was just us English who hated Islam its nice to know there are allies.

american's are soooooooo great which is why none of them are true americans they hav no history! Hahahaha

thats good for anyone went to fight the others in their owen home and maybe more and more I like it coz the people who went to their are stupid like their mom and coz like this example to the usa stupid soldiers , if you at your home and someone come to kill you and your family what r you going to do kiss him and give him flowers or u will fight him and to kill him before he kill you and take your wife and kill your childrens
see it's the same happining in iraq now just ask your self stupid itiot hahahahahaha

i just want to say "ALLAH AKBAR".you ppl cant judge islam just because these ignorant assholes say they are muslims...they do not practice islam and do not follow the rule and are not muslims..in Islam it says to love everybody from every culture and religion and do not judge because God is the only judge and that he only can take your life.you call us muslims terrorists?
go back to american indians days and what they went through and vietnam and now iraq and ask yourselfs who is the terrorist now and who has been the terrorist for hundreds of years and was any religion labeled ."NO"
These terrorists claim they are muslims but they are not...please do your research and then judge whatever u want.if you want to hate and bitch me out i would love to hear what u have to say because i am not ignorant.
thanks

The whole point of any religion especialy islam is Love for God who created all human beings. A lover of God cannot take away the life of an innocent person. Islam teaches us benevolence towards people in general as it is the best deed which brings us close to God infact a life which is not engaged in helping other people is seen as a wasted life in Islam. The quran states: Taking the life of one innocent person is as if you have killed all humanity and saving the life of one is the same as saving humanity. Islam is a religion of love and peace people like OSAMA SADDAM AND ZARQAWI ARE THE ENEMIES OF ISLAM AND THE TEACHINGS OF ISLAM LETS NOT FORGET ZARQAWI AND SADDAM HAVE KILLED MANY MUSLIMS, REMEMBER THE KARBALA BOMBINGS DURING THE HOLY FESTIVAL OF ASHURA,

hey there, was browsing the net when i came accross this, i myself am a muslim and i dipise and hate people who do such things, no where in our religion does it say that we should carry out such sickening crimes against others and extremist murderers should not hide behind the name os Islam because it is becasue of people like them that we have a bad name, it is dipicable!
umbreen

just a little comment for chris anderton, who seems to think that islam is about extremism, nice to know the media have drummed such interesting views into your head that you think our religion is about killing people. try picking up a book about islam and reading about it, you might just realise that out religion is about loving god and other people, were not allowed to kill other people, our religion is against murder and killing of innocent people, against suicide bombings! were not allowed to backbite against people and you think were told to kill people, haha, these people that you see in the pictures WILL go to hell and by using islam and Allah as a sheild they deserve to rott in it. its funny that this is what islam is portrayed as seen as islam is against it. that like saying the IRA are murdrers so their sect of christianity must tell them to do such things and they must be told to kill innocent people just for their beleifs, the only reason your sick of islam is because of what you see as potrayed as being islam, its so sad that such a peaceful religion gets such a tag by people who dont understand islam. if you knew what the Quran said you wudnt be able to tell me any place it says be like this guy youve got in the picture.
umbreen

So okay, next time there is a robber inside your house, don't be alarmed. Just take out your favorite book to read and sit in front of him while he does his business and runs. And not to worry, he will surely kill your family and you before he leaves.

Pssh. Some people are too ignorant to understand the concept and position people are put in.

"Chris Anderton".. you know what sickens me? You. and I'm sure I'm not the only one sickened by you.